DirecTivo Series2 Hacking

Posted by: hybrid8

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 12/02/2005 22:21

Sounds like you just need to adjust the echo in your terminal program.

Bruno

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/02/2005 22:27

Okay, I've got TivoWebPlus 1.1 up and running and I'm now starting to LOVE it. It's so sweet to just quickly schedule or search for a show without having to fire up the TV. Definitely recommend it if you haven't installed it yet. I think i'm getting the hang of all the different hack methods and where they all go.

I've successfully pulled one show off but I'm not quite to the point of getting it onto a DVD with OSX. It's way easier on a PC from what I read.

Thanks Rob for posting that guide link!

If anyone has any questions about any of it or what it enables let me know, I think i've got a grasp of it now.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/02/2005 22:45

Quote:
I've successfully pulled one show off but I'm not quite to the point of getting it onto a DVD with OSX. It's way easier on a PC from what I read.

So, was the encryption already hacked-out? I would know myself by now, but I'm dog/house sitting this week while my parents are in FL.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/02/2005 23:28

Which guide did you use for TivoWeb?

Without getting into the specifics (that are already in the guide) what was the basic order of your hack process? Did you just do 4.x and TivoWeb? Or were there others?

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 15/02/2005 01:58

Installing tivoweb is done by running a script. Aside from unpacking the archive, it pretty-much installs itself. Here's the readme
http://tivo.fp2000.org/twp/README

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 15/02/2005 02:09

Quote:
So, was the encryption already hacked-out?

Yes, read through this thread to see all that the superpatch (which is part of the 4.x+ RID Installation Guide Rob linked to) does. Here's the main thrust of it:

This script will enable the HMO (Home Media Option) which enables Music and Photos, enables Multiroom Viewing (MRV), decrypts all HMO/MRV network traffic, disables the daily nag screen when your box hasn't connected to the service for more than 30 days, sets your tivo to record all future shows unscrambled using NoCSO, and other various stuff, including applying the 30-second skip, NoPPV(record scheduled), Parental Controls (Off after reboot) and VWait Speedup(cpu utilization reduction) patches to all known 4.x tivoapps.

Quote:
Without getting into the specifics (that are already in the guide) what was the basic order of your hack process? Did you just do 4.x and TivoWeb? Or were there others?

Here's the shortlist of what I did:

NOTE: this is all on a Hughes HDVR2 DirecTivo.

1. Used part of the Hinsdale Guide to backup my already expanded two drive DTivo (stock 40GB A drive + upgraded 160GB B drive) to one backup file (no shows).

2. Followed the 4.x+ RID Installation Guide, which installs the 4.0.1b system, LBA48 Kernal (for large drive support) and tons of other patches you'd wanna install anyway. I did this on my 160 GB drive, thus making it the A drive since the 4.0.1b image wouldn't expand fully on the 40GB drive. I put the 40 GB drive aside.

3. added crond as outlined in this post to run the fakecall script to avoid the nag screen you get if your Tivo doesn't dial out ever so often.

4. Then I enabled the backdoors stuff (lets you see drive space used etc) like so:
Code:


mount -o remount,rw /

cd /hacks

cp /tvbin/tivoapp tivoapp

echo -ne "\x24\x05\x00\x01" | dd conv=notrunc of=tivoapp bs=1 seek=5401464

cp /tvbin/tivoapp tivoapp.bak

mv tivoapp /tvbin/tivoapp

mount -o remount,ro /

5. Installed TivoWebPlus 1.1 (i did 1.0 first on accident because I didn't know 1.1 existed, which fixes plenty of bugs) as is outlined in the readme that comes with it. Very simple install. There are modules that add features to it that are just .tcl scripts placed in the modules directory under TWP's install dir.

6. I also futzed around with MFS_FTP, which is an extraction method that basically runs an FTP server, as outlined at the top of this thread. I've got it working but apparently there are other methods... it's seems like a divided camp on which is better. I think Tytool is the other method. There may be others.

7. Used the Hinsdale guide again and made a new backup of all the stuff I'd done thus far. So now I have a backup of the original unhacked setup and another of the hacked setup. Then I used step 10 of the guide to add the 40 GB drive as the B drive. All worked well and i'm at 200 hrs.

Here are some helpful things to know if you use this hack method:

* After you get a prompt, to make changes to files and upload you need to mount root RW (just like the good ol' empeg!). Here are the mount unmount commands:

Code:

mount -o remount,rw / 

mount -o remount,ro /

* All startup commands go in the rc.sysinit.author file which is in /etc/rc.d/

* With this setup, you can put all your hacks in the /hacks/ dir. The old method seems to be to put everything in /var/hack.

If I think of anything else I'll add it to the end.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 15/02/2005 02:11

Quote:
Installing tivoweb is done by running a script

Apparently they don't like the package manager style of install over there, so the TWP 1.1 is a typical "unarchive to install" type deal. I'd recommend 1.1 over 1.0 for this install. I had a number of problems with 1.0 that 1.1 fixed.

Posted by: mcomb

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 00:11

Quote:
5. Installed TivoWebPlus 1.1 (i did 1.0 first on accident because I didn't know 1.1 existed, which fixes plenty of bugs)

A ha! Thanks I didn't know that existed and 1.0 is useless, I'll give the never version a shot.

I'm also running mfs_ftp which was kind of a pain to get running and tweaked for decent speeds, but is very nice now that I've got it going. It allows you to not only archive shows off the tivo, but also put them back later if you want.

Something else worth knowing is that it is easier to store stuff in /var since it is mounted read-write so you don't have to futz with remounting the drive to make changes and it is larger than /. But, apparently the tivo will automatically reformat that partition under certain circumstances (if it doesn't pass an fsck and possibly if it gets full) so it isn't a bad idea to keep a backup of anything you put on there.

-Mike

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 00:33

Quote:
it is easier to store stuff in /var since it is mounted read-write

Ahhh. Thanks for the tip. It's really difficult to figure out the "right way" to do anything from a message board as insane as DealDatabase. There's 3 different ways to do everything.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 00:36

I have one player with just a 40gb drive. I was going to learn on this Tivo, but you're saying you need something bigger than that? Or is that because you downloaded an image for a 80gb model?

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 01:20

I tried to install the image i got off of Torrent, which is supposed to be from a 40GB drive, onto a 40GB drive. It wouldn't expand

It didn't work because of the swap size. I was trying to go with a large swap because I knew I'd be adding the 160GB disk later. However, if you are staying with a 40GB drive, you should be fine by just decreasing the swap. This is described in the middle of step 6 of the how-to.

Posted by: mcomb

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 03:17

Quote:
It's really difficult to figure out the "right way" to do anything from a message board as insane as DealDatabase. There's 3 different ways to do everything.

Tell me about it. I actually read most of that 56 page thread on setting up mfs_ftp. There goes 8 hours of my life I'll never get back

and i hate the fact that everyone just posts files in forum threads rather than setting up actual webpages, its impossible to find anything. We need to loan them the tonybot for a couple days to setup a decent FAQ and install guide.

-Mike

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 03:32

Hah! If you try and write a FAQ and/or install guide they will probably BAN you. They are nazi's about making people look stuff up on their own and waste days instead of writing simple guides that explain how things work. I haven't hacked my Tivo until now for the sole reason of not having time to dig through those forums. I think if they made it all more accessible they'd get a lot more help developing add-ons and modules. I can respect their idealism on wanting to make everyone learn the hard way just like they did, but come on.

Posted by: Waterman981

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 04:11

My /var directory was just recently cleared out, and I lost all my hacks. The TiVo will do that when the log files get to large. So just be sure to clear your log files(/var/log) every so often. My series 1 went about 2 years before /var was killed.

Posted by: n6mod

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 04:17

Since nobody answered the HD question, I'll chime in.

Not as far as I know. My understanding is that only the 3.1.5 series has support for the HD hardware. There are rumors of a 6.2 release coming that will get us folders and generally newer code. HMO/MRV won't be enabled, but it might be possible to enable it.

That said, TivoWebPlus, EndPadPlus, and TyTool (tserver) all work just fine on my HD-Tivo.

-Z

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 12:49

Ooo, Zandr, that's all music to my ears.

What would you suggest? Wait for them to send us an upgrade for our HD tivos, or start hacking mine now?

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 13:44

AOL

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 14:37

Thanks, I appreciate the info. The folders alone would be enough. I don't understand why DirecTV didn't just find a way to allow their users to have the features that didn't "threaten" their service. With a Tivo that can record 200 hours of SD programming out of the box, the folders would have been very welocome.

Posted by: DWallach

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 16/02/2005 22:59

I'd be concerned, hacking my TiVo, that some evil DirecTV killer signal would come down and fry my poor machine. They've done this sort of thing in the past with people who pirated their service, but it's hard to say whether it would be legal or not for them to fry the machines of paying customers.

Still, it would be fantastic to have video extraction, particularly of HD signals, although I'm probably more interested in having HMO functionality (i.e., use my HD-TiVo as a Roku PhotoBridge HD).

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2005 00:36

From what I've heard, you disable software updates via this hack so that shouldn't be an issue. I think they make a distinction between people hacking and people stealing service.

Posted by: Waterman981

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2005 04:41

Loren tonight a buddy of mine and I tried it out on his HDVR2. Everything seemed to go right, but once the TiVo came up we got sound, but no satellite picture. We did get picture from the Tivo itself (menus and such) just not the TV signal. Did you experience this? How about you Rob? Searching Deal Database brings up threads with 100+ pages.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2005 05:49

I had that happen the first time I booted, but after a reboot or two It was back. Are you sure you're checking non-local channels? Those don't come back right away.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2005 11:09

That hasn't happened to me. Sorry.

I did get extraction using Tytool running last night. Burned a DVD and it's all good.

Posted by: mcomb

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2005 19:41

Quote:
a buddy of mine and I tried it out on his HDVR2

I don't think the HDVR2 isn't a RID player. You skipped the steps in red in that guide right? If not you probably just need to swap the dssapp back to the original version.

-Mike

Posted by: Waterman981

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2005 20:42

Yeah his is a non-RID DTivo. We did skip the stuff in red. The only thing we did different is use vi instead of pico to create the rc.sysinit.author file (We're both trying to get better with vi). Channel 100 wouldn't come in, which of any that one should. We tried a couple others as well with no luck. We we are going to blow that drive away and try again tonight. That's weird that after a reboot you got it Loren, we tried a couple reboots, clear & deleting everything, more reboots. Hopefully tonight goes better!

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 19/02/2005 08:19

*SIGH*

I finally get the thing hacked and where I want it, and boom. I was watching Futurama and it started stuttering every few seconds... not a good sign. So I rebooted it after doing a quick log size check in Tivoweb. It got stuck at receiving satellite signal 70% after multiple reboots. I realized I could just telnet in and tail the kernel log which shows boot up stuff, and sure enough there at the end was this over and over:

Feb 19 09:53:51 (none) kernel: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
Feb 19 09:53:51 (none) kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=10624381, sector=488765
Feb 19 09:53:51 (none) kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:0a (hda), sector 488765

I ran e2fsk on hda7 and hda9 a few time and it found errors every few times on hda9. Looks like this drive is going down in flames. I'm running Powermax, the low level Maxtor utility, on it right now to see if it can fix the errors, but i'm not to hopeful. Gonna have to restore an old image to the 40gb drive and wait for a new drive to show up. I hope I can at least get it RMAed.

Doh... disk check just finished: "This drive is failing... blah blah blah" crap. Going to their website to check it it's RMAable...

Phew! Just under the gun... 03/09/2005 is the warranty run out date. Sweet. Getting advanced RMA now. Argh... I guess I'll have to do the whole setup process again. I'd done a bunch of customization too. Ah well!

Now how to figure out how to break it to Kelly in the AM that our DirecTV will be out of commision for a bit...

Edit: Sonofa.... now Maxtor's website doesn't seem to want to accept my credit card for the advance RMA. GRRRRR. To tired... will deal in AM.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2005 03:19

While waiting for my new drive I decided I'd have a go at some extraction.

Have any of you figured out how to extract and burn to DVD with OSX in a moderately simple way? I just spent 4 hours trying to do this with a myriad of tools to no avail. The best part is most of that time was spent with tyserver only to find out it won't run on S2 Mips boxes. Awesome. It really blows me away how unbelievably poorly documented everything is... the people that write the stuff don't even bother to note what works on what. You are expected to have scoured the board for days and know every nuance of every machine and every software package. Argh. Ah well, such is hacking eh?

So... any OSX extractors out there? If I can find a system that works i'll spend time automating it with applescript if I can.

-loren

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2005 11:43

I could do a walkthrough for doing it in Windows. I was able to install tserver, extract a stream, prepare it for DVD and burn the DVD within 1 hour.

Posted by: mcomb

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2005 17:34

Quote:
So... any OSX extractors out there? If I can find a system that works i'll spend time automating it with applescript if I can.

I haven't actually done this yet, but this is what I would try...

1. Extract .ty file with mfs_ftp.
2. Use mencoder (free, part of mplayer) to convert/demux to standard mpeg2
3. Burn with iDVD

Step 2 is the tricky one and I haven't looked into the details. If you don't want to deal with mencoder (kind of cryptic to use) then it looks like ffmpegX provides a GUI that would simplify that step.

-Mike

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2005 17:56

Quote:
I could do a walkthrough for doing it in Windows. I was able to install tserver, extract a stream, prepare it for DVD and burn the DVD within 1 hour.

I can do everything on my PC with the exception of burn DVDs. I'd like to save the step of having to transfer the data to my Powerbook. Other than that, if I have to go the PC route, it looks like TyTool is the way to go then eh?

Quote:
2. Use mencoder (free, part of mplayer) to convert/demux to standard mpeg2
3. Burn with iDVD

From what I gather, you can't make DVD's with any of the apple DVD progs other than DVD Studio Pro 1, because none of them will accept a 480x480 format. Or was it that they didn't take mpeg2...

Posted by: mcomb

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2005 18:10

Quote:
From what I gather, you can't make DVD's with any of the apple DVD progs other than DVD Studio Pro 1, because none of them will accept a 480x480 format. Or was it that they didn't take mpeg2...

I'd definitely look at ffmpegX then, from that versiontracker page I linked:

Added support of TiVo .ty files "Author as DVD" with the "Author" tool, to directly author them as VIDEO_TS folders without any re-encoding

At that point you should be able to burn them with Toast or possibly even Disk Utility.

-Mike

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2005 18:15

TyTool will extract the Ty stream, allow you edit out commercials, allow you to setup the DVD menus, and dump the results to a VIDEO_TS folder that is suitable for dragging straight into burning software. It's pretty awesome.

There is some incompatibility with the TyTool binaries you get from deal database and 4.0.1b. The NowShowing.tcl file has to be replaced with a patched one. Of course, finding the patched version is like finding a needle in a haystack. When I get home, I will post it here.

To get going you just stick tserver and NowShowing.tcl in the /var/hack directory. That's all there is to installing it. The server can be started and stopped from within the Windows GUI if it's installed in that location. I will make a guide when I can get a few screen grabs, but I can post a basic rundown of what to do when I get home.

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2005 18:18

Quote:
TyTool will extract the Ty stream, allow you edit out commercials, allow you to setup the DVD menus, and dump the results to a VIDEO_TS folder that is suitable for dragging straight burning software. It's pretty awesome.

WOAH! TyTool has grown by leaps and bounds since I last played with it. When I was using it, it pretty much extracted the ty file and you counted yourself lucky if it did!

This whole thread is making me seriously consider getting a new DirecTivo.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 24/02/2005 01:10

Wow. That sounds awesome Rob. Hm. Maybe transfering it to the Mac to burn wouldn't be too bad... i just want it to be as painless ass possible. Oh..... I could just run Virtual PC! Duh. That should work. I'll try installing it tonight... if you can post that patch I'd really appreciate it. I'll look for it though.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 24/02/2005 01:45

From what it sounds like, most of us have the HDVR2s. We should make a tutorial with Hughes specific instructions.

I'm still bummed that I can't pull the shows off of my "pure" HDVR2. I might end up borrowing a DVD burner (set top) or getting a capture card so I can burn via PC.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 24/02/2005 06:15

Re: The NowShowing.tcl file. I found this thread that has a recompiled tserver that supposedly eliminates the need for that script. Read the last post in this thread:

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39487&highlight=tserver

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 24/02/2005 11:50

Well, I forgot to post that damn file so if you get tserver running like that, cool. I will definitely post it tonight just in case anyone wants it.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 24/02/2005 16:38

It works. No need for NowShowing.tcl. I had to edit the star command in TyTool to remove the call for it however.

I'm now extracting an episode of Futurama from my HDVR2 with TyTool running on VirtualPC on my Powerbook. SWEET. Only catch was that I have to run wired to my network as VPC has some wonkiness when running the virtual switch over wireless... it just doesn't work. But wired, both Mac and VPC get an IP and the extraction is going fine. I'll update this post once I get it extracted and start trying the next steps in TyTool!

Damn I wish I knew how to program so I could whip up a Cocoa app to use all of the available scripts and make it a one step process on OSX. Hell, If I could figure out how to do it straight on a mac period, i'd write up some applescripts.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 24/02/2005 17:06

The guide here in the first post is actually pretty good. This looks like an older version of TyTool, but these are the steps I take.
http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?mode=hybrid&t=26095

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 24/02/2005 18:05

IT WORKS! WOOOOT! I have a DVD of a Futurama episode sitting here. Amazing. I've been looking forward to this day since the day i got my DTivo. Finally, it works. Thanks again Rob for all the helpful links.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/03/2005 05:50

Well, I got my replacement Maxtor 160GB drive... but DAMN it's noisy. I never heard the original drive at all but I can hear this one scrubbing all the time. Grrr.

Posted by: mlord

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/03/2005 12:09

That's adjustable -- "acoustic management" (hdparm -M)

EDIT: like this: hdparm -M252 /dev/hdc

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/03/2005 15:42

Does that feature also control the spin motor speed noise? Or just the head movement noise?

Posted by: mlord

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/03/2005 16:21

No effect on spin-noise -- the drives always spin at exactly 7200rpm (or 5400rpm) when operating.

But the head-scrubbing noise will completely disappear with the right values. Note that this is a *persistent* setting, so a person could boot KNOPPIX to change it once with hdparm, and then use MS-Win from there on..

[EDIT] and/or do the change with the drive temporarily plugged into a different system, and then transplant it back into the TIVO or whereever.

Cheers

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/03/2005 17:09

Ahh... now that's interesting. So what are the value ranges? Should I just use what you've suggested? Thanks for the tip!

Posted by: mlord

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/03/2005 17:14

I've forgotten the "best" values, but you should experiment with 254,252,248. Anything lower doesn't usually make much of a difference. 254 is the noisiest, and other values down to 128 are normally quieter (and slower seeking).

Cheers

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/03/2005 18:35

I'll give that a shot. Thanks Mark.

On another note, I've successfully loaded the USB 2.0 drivers and am running them with a Netgear FA120 USB->Ethernet adapter, and getting extraction speeds close to 2MB/sec, when before I was running at about .4MB/sec. Sweeeeeet.

Here's the guide:
http://www.dellanave.com/projects/tivo/usb20net.html

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/03/2005 22:44

I just cracked open a 120gb drive and am going to take a stab at this tonight.

EDIT: Mark, you're a celebrity! Your name popped up in a few Tivo threads.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 31/03/2005 15:52

I'm finally starting this today (spend the last day or so running Cat5 and coax to another room). Thanks to Loren, I was already on step 6 when I started!

Thanks Loren!

But, I'm already having an issue... I booted off of the PTV disk. Worked. I swapped to the Tools CD and typed "mkdir /cdrom" and have now been staring at a blinking cursor for 5 minutes... I'm getting worried. Prior to this, I tried the "mkdir /cdrom" command before swapping to the Tools CD on accident. I immediately got a "kernal mkdir not found" error message. I'm not getting it this time, so I'm assuming "something" is happening, but I'm getting worried. Maybe I'm used to our FAQ where it will tell you when to expect for a long pause for certain commands.. Okay, it's been another 3 minutes or so and I'm still getting the blinking cursor.

DVD drive is secondary slave, unformatted Tivo drive is secondary master.

Should I keep waiting or is something goofed up? Bad CD?

EDIT: I'm an idiot. I saw the "boot:" prompt after booting from the PTV CD and thought that's what the bash prompt looked like when booting from the CD. Would have helped if I read the "Press <Enter> to boot". NOW I swap CDs. sheeesh.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 01/04/2005 00:56

Wow, what a cool guide! There is just something cool about telneting to the Tivo from a wireless notebook.

I'm still getting used to the non-DirecTV menus, but it seemed to go quite well...

Do any of you remember someone posting here that they were able to get mp3s streaming from their EMPEG to their Tivo? I could have sworn I read that here once, but no amount of searching found it...

EDIT: Just found it. I had to limit my search to the Subject.

I also remember posting here a link to a site I found that had a HMO hack that would resolve scheduling conflicts by looking for an open tuner on another networked Tivo and schedule the "3rd" show to record there. This will be worth looking into!

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/04/2005 23:22

For anyone looking to get the USB 2.0 drivers running... I have a few tips:

1) Before starting the guide, you need to mount the drives rw. Copied from part of the 4.0 guide:
mount -o remount,rw /

2) Once you launch the "vi" editor, you need to get out of "Command Mode" and into "Insert Mode". You do this by pressing i.

3) When you are done editing your file, go back to Command Mode by pressing Esc.

4) To save the file and quite, press : then type wq then Enter.

5) To see if your changes took, just relaunch vi with that file: vi /test.conf.

6) Exit again, this time with out saving by pressing : then q and then Enter.

7) Finally, put the drives back into ro mode:
mount -o remount,ro /

I hope this helps... Once I get my PC back together

, I think I'll shoot that guy an email. here is a good beginner's guide for vi.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 03/04/2005 19:51

I'm thinking of disabling the backdoors stuff. The "Clip List" is a bit annoying and the title bar for mem usage is broken... I'm assuming I can do:

mount -o remount,rw /

cd /hacks

mv tivoapp.bak /tvbin/tivoapp

mount -o remount,ro /

That should restore the backup right?

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 07/04/2005 03:52

That should do it. You might want to backup the "hacked" tivoapp too just in case.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 07/04/2005 22:55

Thanks Loren.

Here is what I ended up doing:
__________________________________
mount -o remount,rw /

cd /hacks

cp /tvbin/tivoapp tivoappBD.bak

mv tivoapp.bak /tvbin/tivoapp

mount -o remount,ro /
__________________________________
"mount -o remount,ro /" always errors out, but it worked!

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 26/04/2005 02:08

Where are you guys finding TivoWebPlus 1.1? When I go to the official site, they only have 1.0 final.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 26/04/2005 03:08

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38724&highlight=tivowebplus

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 26/04/2005 09:24

Ah... okay. I didn't notice it was an attachment in the thread. They link to the official FAQ and the officla site, so I thought the site would have the "latest and greatest" but it looks liike the thread is the most up to date...

Thanks.

Posted by: tman

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 26/04/2005 17:40

Yeah. All the TiVo stuff is a PITA to find since it's all in threads on dealdatabase. It's annoying when they link to a discussion thread on it as you end up having to poke through 25 pages of a thread to work out what to use/do.

Posted by: jmwking

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 27/04/2005 10:04

I guess maybe we should license our TonyBot FAQ Builder to them...

-jk

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 27/04/2005 13:36

What a coincidence, I hear it's looking for work.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 27/04/2005 15:23

Quote:
I guess maybe we should license our TonyBot FAQ Builder to them...

-jk

Here is my entry.

It is taken straight from that post Loren linked to, but is easier to follow. It is to enable crond and set it up to make the daily fakecall and clear the logs at midnight each night. I'm thinking that the 4.x install already did the fakecall thing because my Tivo has been running several weeks with no nags... but, just to be safe:

Code:

mount -o remount,rw /

echo "root:x:0:0:root:/:/bin/sh" >> /etc/passwd
echo "root:x:0:" >> /etc/group

mkdir -p /var/spool/cron/crontabs
touch /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

echo "0 0 * * * fakecall.tcl" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
echo "0 0 * * * wipelogs" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

echo "/busybox/crond" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author

mount -o remount,ro /

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 30/04/2005 14:10

Quote:
Yeah. All the TiVo stuff is a PITA to find since it's all in threads on dealdatabase. It's annoying when they link to a discussion thread on it as you end up having to poke through 25 pages of a thread to work out what to use/do.

Tell me about it.... I just wasted over an hour looking for into on installing TyTool. I "think" TyTool9r18 is the latest, but how do I know? None of the "official" web sites are up-to-date and the DealDatabase forums are so flooded, it's hard to follow. And if TyTools9r18.zip is tha latest, how do I know that it includes the latest NowShowing.rcl or whatever? sheeesh.

Maybe when I used to have a job where I was at a PC 50 hours a week I could do this, but I'm only online after work and that time is usually spent doing stuff around the house. I've already spent more time hacking and researching hacks on my Tivo than I have actually spent using the thing.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking (6.2 Update) - 25/07/2005 02:35

I have just finished "slice upgrading" one of my previously hacked 4.0.1b DirecTiVos to 6.2 (the current DirecTiVo S2 software). The slice method retains recorded shows, seaons passes, etc. I was able to accomplish this thanks to this guide. However, it wasn't nearly as smooth as the 4.x guide by the same guy. I guess he needs feedback to polish it up. I will update this thread tomorrow with the "Ooopses" I came across. It's just that it's getting a bit late here now...

So, why upgrade to 6.2? Well, for one, it's newer software! Menu items and guide navigation seems to be way more snappy. See this site for info on that. HMO seems to work a bit quicker too and while playing MP3s, the info box moves around the screen so you can still see what's playing and not burn your TV. I haven't put TyTools back on yet, but it aparently works.

EDIT:

The first snag I hit with the 6.2 slice guide was this bit:

Quote:
3c) Figure out which ones you need, and un-gzip each one of them. Then un-gzip loopset-dtv-Series2.slice.gz, and THEN do it AGAIN to the same file. On Linux you need to rename the file to .gz again otherwise it won't recognize it as a gzip file. This could all be done quite easily on the TiVo, but now with those 5 files you have a nice package you don't have to mess with again.

I didn't proceed further with the guide until I thought about the part in red for a while and what the hell that meant. I eventually figured out the file loopset-dtv-Series2.slice.gz contains 1 file inside called loopset-dtv-Series2.slice once extracted. However, this file is also a gzipped file, but without proper extension. So, I had to rename loopset-dtv-Series2.slice to loopset-dtv-Series2.slice.gz and unzip it again.

The whole "tivotools" install from 4.x was a problem. I used an older version of the 4.x+ RID guide to initially hack my boxes. The version I used said to install tivotools.tar to /busybox. It seems the newest revision of the 4.x+ RID guide instructs the user to install the tools to /tivo-bin which is much more common.

Before rebooting your TiVo and letting it upgrade itself, I suggest you actually move /busybox to /tivo-bin on your 6.2 partition and add the below line to your rc.sysinit.author file if you followed the "/busybox version" of the 4.x+ RID guide:
Code:

export PATH=./:.:/utils:/bin:/sbin:/tvbin:/tivobin:/tivo-bin

There is also an issue with this part of the install:

Quote:
cd /var/packages/
chmod 755 superpatch-67all-NutKase-1.0.tcl
./superpatch-67all-NutKase-1.0.tcl
chmod 755 set_mrv_name_67.tcl
./set_mrv_name_67.tcl YOURTIVONAME # (Type in the name for your Tivo, if you have more than 1, choose something descriptive ("Bedroom Tivo"). If you use spaces, you need quotes "around it")

For some reason, I couldn't just run these files like ./superpatch-67all-NutKase-1.0.tcl. I had to run them by typing tivosh superpatch-67all-NutKase-1.0.tcl. tivosh is in the busybox/tivo-bin directory. The reason these files had to be run like that had something to do with the way they were extracted. That doesn't make too much sense to me since this is the first time I had this issue, but I was getting too tired to dig deeper, and tivosh worked fine.

I guess that's it for now. The torrent on the guy's site was down yesterday but the edonkey link worked fine. If anybody needs the 6.2 slices let me know, I can host them somewhere.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking (6.2 Update) - 25/07/2005 08:53

Please keep us up to date. That sounds very interesting.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking (6.2 Update) - 25/07/2005 11:55

Updated last night's post with the snags I hit.

After playing with 6.2 for a very short while, aparently there is no way to configure or see your IP address from within the Tivo UI anymore. There are tools to set a static IP on your tivo from the command line, but aparently multi-room viewing (MRV) doesn't work anymore when you have a static IP. So, you have to monitor your router's local DHCP table to see what IP your tivo may have if you want to telnet, ftp, or extract shows. Another option is to have your router reserve a static IP for your Tivo's MAC address. My Linksys router doesn't allow this, so I am a bit screwed at this point. If the IP of my tivo boxes change, I will have to look at my router's DHCP table. Lame.

Other than that, the guide and menu speed alone is probably worth the upgrade. Also, my 6.2 box has no problem sharing shows with my other 4.0.1b boxes (soon to be upgraded).

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking (6.2 Update) - 25/07/2005 14:26

Kick ass. Thanks a TON for this info... with this and TivoTool for the Mac that I just discovered in another thread, I've got a bunch of new toys for the Tivo!

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking (6.2 Update) - 19/08/2005 16:57

Thanks again for posting this!

I recently switched from Netgear to Linksys and I hate how I can't preassign IPs to MAC addresses anymore.

It looks like the guide was updated just two days ago so I might give him some more time to iron out issues before I try this. I can't figure out why TivoWeb just suddenly STOPPED working one day, but Tytools works and I'm happy with that!

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking (6.2 Update) - 19/08/2005 17:06

I assume you're up and running then?

Be careful of the USB 2.0 network drivers. They don't work with the kernel used by 6.2. I can post the correct ones here when I get home if you need them...

I also have a working tserver that doesn't need NowShowing.tcl

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 19/09/2005 16:58

Have you guys read about the R15? Looks like DirecTV is finally dropping Tivo. Users of the new box will be able to get service for $6 a month unless they are signed up by a certain date. Tivo will still be supported.

I wonder what OS the thing runs on and if it'll be hackable. I was thinking of picking up a few HDVR2s on eBay.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 19/09/2005 17:08

Quote:
Have you guys read about the R15?

I have a PDF of the manual that was leaked a month or so ago. It apparently mentions that when recording 2 shows, picture quality may degrade. I have only scanned through the document, so I haven't seen that first-hand, but that's a bad sign right there. I will host it somewhere...

Quote:
I was thinking of picking up a few HDVR2s on eBay.

That sounds like me. I have an HDVR2 in my closet next to my stash of empegs. I think I need another...

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 19/09/2005 17:13

Quote:
I will host it somewhere...

Here you go

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 19/09/2005 17:28

Quote:
when recording 2 shows, picture quality may degrade

The only way that makes sense is if they're decoding the DirecTV stream upon record, which would be absurd.

Why is it that only TiVo can even come close to getting this stuff right?

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 19/09/2005 17:55

I guess this is what the people on the Tivo board were referring to:

Quote:
When I am watching a recorded program, and the DIRECTV Plus Receiver starts to record another program, my image quality
deteriorates.

• Press PAUSE, then PLAY.
• Press EXIT to return to live TV, then press LIST. SELECT the program you were watching from the Playlist and press PLAY. (
You may have to fast forward back to the point where you were.

Not really the same thing, but still unacceptable in a finished product. Especially when this product is replacing something that already works. That text was found on page 55 of the PDF.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/10/2005 00:57

Out of curiousity, do any of you have the "New Music from Best Buy" thing appearing under Music & Photos? I did this hack on both my HDVR2s about a year ago and never saw the Best Buy thing. Just a few weeks ago, I did the same process with the exact same CDRs and printed instructions (using the older 2/22/05 revision) but I see the Best Buy music.

Did I do something wrong this 2nd time around? Maybe I should be worried that my Tivo is doing this? Or did I mess up the first time and the Best Buy stuff should have been there all along?

LOL, I guess those typos do get you eventually huh?

Here is basically what happened. The "Best Buy" stuff was a sign that my Tivo was getting access to the outside world which wasn't good. Tivo, Inc. could have seen my Tivo. All fixed now with a little vi editing.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 29/01/2006 19:01

Here's another guide which also covers the HD DirecTivo. It looks less complex than the dellanave.com one I have been using:

Tivo_Zipper

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 30/01/2006 01:18

Coool, saving this bookmark. I'm tempted to hack my tivo, but from what I understand, the existing video that's stored on it will not be watchable if I do, right?

Also, I'm concerned by this one statement:

Quote:
DO NOT mention, link to, or discuss The Zipper at dealdatabase.com. They will NOT help you, and will likely vilify you for using an installation script like this.

Why would the dealdatabase people be upset by this? What's evil about it?

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 30/01/2006 01:41

Quote:
Why would the dealdatabase people be upset by this? What's evil about it?

It's a guide that walks you through doing something. They are very anti-guide.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 30/01/2006 09:11

Meaning they're pro-guesswork? Pro trial-and-error?

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 30/01/2006 12:00

Pro trial and error.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 06/02/2006 22:41

Quote:
Here's another guide which also covers the HD DirecTivo. It looks less complex than the dellanave.com one I have been using:

Tivo_Zipper

Whoah! I just caught that you included the HDTivo there.... did they finally figure out how to hack it? Yummy.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 06/02/2006 23:29

I think it's only useful for video extraction. No HMO on HD DirecTivo yet.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 02:38

Today I had an idea, but can't think of the easiest way to do it...

I'd like to save the current radar weather view to a file on my PC automatically and have the Tivo Desktop software share it to my hacked DirecTIVOs. I currently have the radar image on my desktop via Windows "Active Desktop", along wih a few web cams around Detroit, but when I point Tivo to the "Offline Webpages" folder, there is no viewable data. If the image is displayed on my Desktop, I assume it must be on my hard drive somewhere, but a search of the filename on C shows nothing...

Any other idea how I could grab the latest radar weather image (a static url) every 20 minutes or so? I don't get local weather because I have DirecTV and DirecTV doesn't get the "Yahoo" Tivo content either. I'd like to be able to monitor this (and maybe the web cams) by just using the Home Media Option to view photos...

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 03:10

The first thing that comes to mind is to use wget with the builtin Windows Task Scheduler (System Tools->Scheduled Tasks). Of course, since the Task Scheduler is so stupid that the most frequently you can schedule something is once a day, you'd have to set up 92 schedules to make it happen every 20 minutes. I think you can at least do that all as one named task, though. Might be easier to use a better scheduler. A Google for "windows cron" ("cron" is the name of the Unix scheduler) shows pycron, which looks promising.

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 03:15

That's ridiculous...I schedule tasks every 5 minutes with the Task Scheduler.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 03:21

Oops. I guess I didn't look hard enough.

So schedule it for "Every 1 day(s)" but repeat it every 20 minutes. Clear as mud.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 11:44

Quote:
I'd like to save the current radar weather view to a file on my PC automatically and have the Tivo Desktop software share it to my hacked DirecTIVOs.

This function is built in to JavaHMO.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 12:04

Quote:
About

JavaHMO started as a simple server to bring internet content to TiVo with HMO, but grew into a replacement of the Publisher server software provided by TiVo.

Very cool! Rob to the rescue again!

The Scheduler is what I use to refresh the images on my desktop every 20 minutes. I have images of various traffic cams, web cams and the local radar on the bottom 1/3 of my desktop.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 12:10

JavaHMO is basically abandoned at this point since the author is now working on Galleon which doesn't work with anything lower than 7.x Tivo software. Currently, the only plugin that doesn't work anymore is the one that grabs movie times because I guess movies.com changed their layout.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/02/2006 18:47

I'm loving this thing! I'll be sure to mention it to anyone who has HMO enabled. The weather plug-in is really nice and does more than what I thought it would. The Internet Images plug-in could also be used as a cheap security monitoring device as well.

Posted by: adavidw

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2006 09:40

Quote:
JavaHMO is basically abandoned at this point since the author is now working on Galleon...

Except, he's not quite doing that anymore...

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2006 13:29

With comments like this, I don't blame developers giving the world free stuff for having second thoughts:

Quote:
Who gives a shit? Galleon is a crappy buggy hack job prog if there ever was one.

Dont let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.

Comment by BetterThanYou — February 15, 2006 @ 2:31 pm

Posted by: hybrid8

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2006 15:38

At least he's a Christian.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/02/2006 20:46

No, he didn't capitolize the L in Lord.

Posted by: Neutrino

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2006 17:58

I too have tytools working on my series 1 Sony T60. Has anyone had any luck with streaming? I would love to be able to setup a PC in the bedroom and stream content from my Tivo. I have played with mplayer and vserver on the tivo but have not had much luck.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2006 18:16

Slingbox. I have one, and it's awesome. Another option might be EtiVo, but I don't know if it works with Series1

Posted by: matthew_k

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2006 18:38

What do you use yours for? They seem to have caught on much more than I ever imagined. I thought they'd be extremely popular with the road warrior set who traveled all the time and just wanted to relax in their hotel room with their own tivo. Other than that, I didn't see a market for it. Obviously, I was wrong, but I'd still like to understand what I missed.

Matthew

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2006 19:05

I use it to watch TV at work. Rarely it's during the normal work day, but it's great if I'm the only one here after-hours. I also use it in airports to pass the time between flights. I think Costco sells the thing for $189 now. I paid $250 and it's well worth it at that price.

Posted by: Neutrino

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2006 19:54

Thanks Rob, Slingbox looks pretty cool. ETivo too, but it doesn't work with the Series 1. I looked at Tivo to Go just now and it has some great featuresas well. Maybe it is time for me to upgrade.

Posted by: Neutrino

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2006 20:11

Quote:
My /var directory was just recently cleared out, and I lost all my hacks. The TiVo will do that when the log files get to large. So just be sure to clear your log files(/var/log) every so often. My series 1 went about 2 years before /var was killed.

Interestingly enough I just fired up TyTool and found that my /var/hack directory was gone. Only took about an hour to rebuild it but what files should I be deleting in the log folder to keep this from happening? Should I just delete all the files in the log folder? Will they rebuild themselves? I guess I could just try it and see what happens. I have a backup of the drive.

Posted by: Neutrino

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/02/2006 21:29

Answered my own question. I've been using tivoweb and didn't know what I was missing. Just loaded up Tivowebplus and found it contains functions to clear the logs, nice!

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 09/08/2006 12:47

I'm looking to get another DirecTivo for hacking.. Has anyone kept up to date on which is the best one to get? I'm happy with my HDVR2s but they are a bit slow some times.. I know DirecTV has switched from Tivo, but there were a few models released after the HDVR2 and I'm wondering if a) they are hackable and b) they are worth getting over the HDVR2. Any insight would be great!

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 09/08/2006 12:56

Any series 2 DirecTiVo except for the R10 and HD box is hackable. They all operate at the same speed. There is a big speed increase between 4.0.1b and 6.2. If you haven't upgraded your hacked 4.0.1b box, definitely do that!

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 09/08/2006 15:40

Have you heard any more rumors on the Series 3?

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 09/08/2006 16:15

All I've heard is that there are beta units out in the wild now, so I doubt it will be too much longer before we can buy them. I'm pretty sure I will switch from DirecTV. At the very least I think I will drop HD service with DirecTV and get cable's.

Posted by: Waterman981

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 09/08/2006 18:45

You can hack the HR10-250. Here's the easy way. However it was leaked that DirecTV has a version 6 TiVo software coming soon for the HD TiVo's. Otherwise it is still 3.1.5f, so it stays slow, and no show sharing/folders.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 09/08/2006 18:46

Quote:
DirecTV has a version 6 TiVo software coming soon for the HD TiVo's

You got a reference for that? I'd love to read more.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 08/09/2006 16:40

Quote:
I'm hoping that they get out an HD CableCard TiVo and service in my area before I am forced to find something new.

The Series 3 is an HD Cablecard Tivo. It doesn't work with DirecTV.

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 08/09/2006 17:30

Well, then, the CableCard service in my area is the hangup.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 08/09/2006 18:19

Questions about the HR20-700:

1. When DirecTV does finally start switching over to Mpeg4 and my HR10-250 becomes a paperweight, will I be able to simply unplug it and plug the HR20-700 in its place, or will I need an upgraded or additional antenna?

(In other words, will the MPEG-4 streams be coming off the same birds as the current stuff?)

2. Has anyone seen if its software is any good? What are the comparisons to Tivo?

3. Any promises yet made about the usage of its OTA antenna inputs?

4. Any promises made about us loyal HR10-250 owners getting discounted upgrade paths?

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 08/09/2006 18:37

Quote:
Questions about the HR20-700:

1. When DirecTV does finally start switching over to Mpeg4 and my HR10-250 becomes a paperweight, will I be able to simply unplug it and plug the HR20-700 in its place, or will I need an upgraded or additional antenna?

(In other words, will the MPEG-4 streams be coming off the same birds as the current stuff?)

2. Has anyone seen if its software is any good? What are the comparisons to Tivo?

3. Any promises yet made about the usage of its OTA antenna inputs?

4. Any promises made about us loyal HR10-250 owners getting discounted upgrade paths?

1. You can use the HR20-700 with any DirecTV dish, but MPEG4 content will require a 5-lnb dish. The only current 5-lnb DirecTV dish is the AT9 which is large and heavy. A slimline version should be coming out early 2007.

2. The UI is apparently identical to the R15 which is what replaced the SD DirecTiVos. There is a lengthy comparisson here, but lacks pictures. This thread has many photos and screen shots of the HR20-700.

3. OTA inputs are in the manual and rumors are they will be turned on in October. The HR20-700 is still not widely released yet. The only place to buy it officially is BestBuy until the 13th.

4. If you have an HR10-250 and you leased it, you should get an HR20-700 for free. Apparently someone did this on dbstalk.com, but I can't find the post right now. If you purchased your HR10-250, I would imagine you can work something out. Some long-time customers have been able to get $150 rebates upon activating the HR20-700. This is in addition to the AT9 dish and installation (with multiswitch if needed) for free (if leasing the HR20-700).

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 08/09/2006 18:46

Quote:
Sure, the HR20-700 isn't a Tivo, but it's faster than v3.1 software that the HR10-250 seems to be stuck with.

It seems a couple minutes after writing that, there is some sort of confimation that 6.3 will be coming to the HR10-250. While this is good news, I still don't own an HD DVR and buying an HR10-250 this late in to its life doesn't seem like the best move.

I still plan on getting the HR20-700.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 08/09/2006 18:54

Quote:
It seems a couple minutes after writing that, there is some sort of confimation that 6.3 will be coming to the HR10-250.

YAY!!! This will make me somewhat happier until I am forced to upgrade to get the Mpeg-4 compatibility.

Posted by: jbauer

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/09/2006 15:51

Ok, I am eating my hat. 6.3 has been rolling out and apparantly has had issues, so they already have 6.3a. I have yet to get either, even though I've done daily forced calls to try and get it.

Anyone else with the HD TiVo get it yet?

I am amazed that this is even happening. Wonder why...

What would be even better is for them to allow the Home Media stuff so that I could stream shows to another TiVo, but now I'm just dreaming (to quote "The Castle")...

- Jon

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/09/2006 15:52

My parents are still stuck without either 6.3 version.

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/09/2006 16:40

My parents are also stuck on version 3. We've been checking for a couple weeks now, ever since I read that thread from the Tivo forum that Rob posted. I called DirecTV, and the rep said that everyone should have it "by October." I don't know what that means, but I don't have it yet, and I have a feeling there's a large number of people who don't either. I've heard rumors of 10/12 being a big date for people to get it on/by.

I also read a completely unsubstantiated rumor (I think it was also in that thread) that there was a software upgrade being prepared to make Tivo's record MPEG4 streams. I don't know if that's even possible, and even if it is, I'm more skeptical than ever. Of course I never would have thought that DirecTV would show any support for their shunned DirecTivo owners.

Posted by: jbauer

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/09/2006 16:48

Dunno where, but I've read that the HR10-250 is incapable from a hardware perspective (CPU speed, I think) for MPEG4. I believe that this info was given by TiVo engineers - it was a while ago that I read it.

Of course, if this were untrue, I'd be psyched.

I've also read that Murdoch may be selling off DirecTV. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117950090?categoryid=1236&cs=1) Maybe that has something to do with the upgrade? Since they are trying to sell their lame-ass HR20, why on earth would they be opening Pandora's box, from a support perspective, by giving HR10 owners an upgrade which really doesn't even give us much in terms of new functionality? Folders and a bit more speed, from what I can gather...

Just strange.

- Jon

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/09/2006 16:58

Quote:
...why on earth would they be opening Pandora's box, from a support perspective...

All their boxes have the same UI now, so it's less of a problem down the road as far as support calls go.

The HR20-700 box is also getting some streaming media support with Intel Viiv PCs. This would provide something no DirecTivo box can do without hacking.

I have nothing against Tivo and have been using their products since the SAT-T60 came out, but I don't think the DirecTV DVRs are too bad. From what I see, they're a billion times better than what the cable company would give you.

EDIT: Link for the Viiv/DirecTV news

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/09/2006 17:16

I am also still stuck with version 3, and wishing I had version 6.

Were the posts about version 6 just lies?

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 01/10/2006 02:39

Quote:
I'd be curious to see what you think of the non-Tivo boxes...

I've been playing with the DirecTV HR20-700 all day now and it seems to be decent. The UI and channel changing are extremely quick. It's a great deal quicker than the SD DirecTiVos with 6.2 and even the Samsung SIR-TS160 it replaced. Here's the pros and cons so far:

Pro:

Very fast
Guide is well laid-out and graphics are crisp
Mini-guide (viewing one 1 channel's line-up while taking up very little screen real estate)
Ability to view a single channel's programming while using the entire screen (can see about 5 future programs on each page). This is similar to the Tivo Live Guide, but seems more useful.
Software updates come over the satellite (like other non-Tivo boxes). Within the first 10 minutes of activating the receiver, it grabbed the latest software.
Hasn't screwed up on me yet. DirecTV doesn't appear to consider it a beta product, but it's still not widely available and software updates are being released very frequently.
Hard drive upgrades are as easy as dropping in a new drive. It will automatically format upon boot (I think UltimateTV worked like that)
30-second fast forward. It's not a 30 skip, but it will fast forward for as many 30-second segments as you would like.
Can switch output resolutions to match the native resolution of the program playing. I don't use this since my TV (rear projection CRT) doesn't accept 720p, only 1080i.
The remote is very solid, heavy, and has a rubberized bottom part. I have a Harmony 880, but if I had to use the supplied remote, it seems very nice.

Cons:

It's not a Tivo
It will take a while to master the UI
No HMO-type ability yet
No skip-to-tick
No skip-to-end (or I can't figure it out)
No dual buffers (rumored to be coming)
No OTA (this will be coming in October supposedly)
Guide data not stored on the hard drive!!!!!!!! This is moronic for a DVR. If you lose power, your guide data will have to rebuild from scratch. If a series link (season pass) program is playing, and there's no guide data yet, the program won't be recorded (obviously).
Gaudy. There are at least 17 blue LEDs on the face of this thing.

Most of the cons will hopefully be fixed in software. Overall, I think it's a solid product. There's no question it was rushed, but at least the basic functionality seems to be working. It's a shame it's not running Tivo software, but I think it could be a lot worse.

Posted by: jbauer

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 01/10/2006 04:28

Rob, thanks for the review. Hm. Maybe I don't have to commit seppuku without TiVo...

- Jon

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 01/10/2006 12:25

Thanks Rob. If they add some HMO functions, I think I'll sign up. I transfer shows daily so that'd be missed if I switched now...

I've had an HDTV-Ready TV since 2000 but have never run a HD signal through it yet!

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 01/10/2006 15:13

Has it got a 30-second skip, or anything similar?

Oh, and: This is the one that'll work with the new MPEG4 birds?

Oh, and: My HD-DirecTivo gave me a message this week about how the upgrade was coming and to make sure I had my phoneline plugged in. Yay.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 01/10/2006 15:44

Streming media to the box is coming with Intel Viiv-enabled PCs (whatever that means).

The box has two SATA ports on-board. One is hooked up to the stock hard drive, and one is hooked up to an eSATA port on the back. The one hooked up to eSATA is currently disabled. If you open the box, you could switch the active port on the motherboard to hook up to the eSATA port. Since the hard drive will rebuild when you turn it on for the first time, you can just get an external eSATA enclosure. This way, your shows are being stored on a hard drive that's easily portable. I don't know how you can read the contents, but that's a possible option for the future.

The box also has ethernet and two USB ports. Those could be extraction options in the future as well.

I still have an SD DirecTivo in the living room to handle HMO.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 01/10/2006 15:51

Quote:
Has it got a 30-second skip, or anything similar?

Yeah, I listed that in the pros. It's the 8th one down.

Quote:
Oh, and: This is the one that'll work with the new MPEG4 birds?

Yes. I only have the Phase 3 (3-LNB) dish right now. I will be getting the AT-9 (5-LNB, MPEG4) dish installed next saturday. Since I'm in NY, I don't think there are any channels I would get in MPEG4 that I don't already get in MPEG2. MPEG4 would save space on my hard drive though...

Oh yeah, another pro of the HR20-700 is that it has a meter for the remaining hard drive space and it's prominently displayed in the MyVOD (Now Showing) menu.

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/10/2006 09:42

Quote:
Oh, and: My HD-DirecTivo gave me a message this week about how the upgrade was coming and to make sure I had my phoneline plugged in. Yay.

I got that too! It said the upgrade would be coming "soon."

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/10/2006 17:38

I've been hitting the "make daily call now" link each time I turn on the Tivo, hoping it'll do the upgrade.

Anyone got theirs yet?

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 02/10/2006 18:18

Quote:
I've been hitting the "make daily call now" link each time I turn on the Tivo, hoping it'll do the upgrade.

Anyone got theirs yet?

I've been doing the same thing every day

Posted by: Tim

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 03/10/2006 11:44

On Saturday, I had a message that it was going to be done the previous Wed and to make sure the phoneline was plugged in. I made the call to try to force it but it didn't look like anything happened. Myabe the date was wrong and they meant 04 OCT instead of 27 SEP?

I'm assuming the version number is the long string of numbers (starts with 3. something) on the page with all your settings listed? If I used it more, I'd actually be able ot name the menu items to get to it, I guess

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 03/10/2006 12:59

Yeah, that's the version number. I think for you it should read 3.1.5....... That's what I have.

It's also on the phone settings screen, so I go straight there to see if it's been updated. If not, I make the call. But I'm not sure the call matters in the least. I'm sure they'll push it out when they feel like it.

Posted by: Tim

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 04/10/2006 11:34

Cool, thanks. I'm pretty sure the message said it was coming out last Wednesday. Since I'm actually going to turn on the TV tonight (NHL season starts today!!!!!! Finally!), I'll check to see if it went through.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 04/10/2006 12:38

Quote:
NHL season starts today!!!!!! Finally!

Who's carrying the games in HD this season? HDnet seemed to fizzle out on us last season.

Posted by: petteri

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 04/10/2006 18:58

Versus (what they used to call OLN) will be doing games in HD this season, as they did last season. I don't think too many cable companies outside of Comcast carry the HD games though. Here in Miami, Comcast broadcasts the HD games on the INHD channel. CBC will also do some games in HD. HDNet is also back this season with HD coverage. The NHL.com schedule is also showing which games are in HD. There are various local cannels that will be doing HD this season. FOX Sports Net Florida for Panthers games here in South Florida for example. I'm too lazy to post links to all the schedules, but they aren't hard to find....

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 04/10/2006 21:48

Eeeeexcellent.

Posted by: petteri

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 04/10/2006 22:03

Quote:
Eeeeexcellent.

Yep!

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 01:44

Adelphia (currently transitioning to TimeWarner in this area) had the Hurricanes game in HD tonight on InHD. I was enjoying it till my wife stole the remote to watch America's Next Top Model. Argh!

Posted by: Tim

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 11:27

There was a game on last night on the channel 'HD' (think that was the name). I think it was on 96 or 97. I didn't really pay attention because I was watching the Dallas/Denver game. As much as I wish both teams could lose, that was an exciting game.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 13:54

Yup, caught that game on the channel "HD", it was the sabres and hurricanes. I was disappointed because they said they were gonna play a double header, with another game to follow, and it didn't come on, it just went to "direcTV" screen and Comfortably Numb playing in the background.

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 14:11

It was a double header if you were watching on Versus (DirecTV Channel 608). They shared the same commentators, etc.. for the INHD broadcast.

Versus Broadcast Schedule
HDNet Broadcast Schedule

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 14:36

Was channel 608 hi-def?

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 15:51

I'm not a DirecTV subscriber, but it shouldn't be. Versus is a standard def only channel. The games on the schedule that are marked HD will be shown on INHD in high def as well as Versus in standard def, so you'll need to adjust your DVR accordingly. Perhaps two season passes or wishlists with the HD one having higher priority.

Posted by: petteri

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 16:04

Yep, only select VS. games are in HD. There isn't a dedicated HD channel for VS. yet, so the providers that do carry the channel and want to show the HD version will have to use a 'special use' channel. I kinda though that by now there would be a HD Vs. channel, but I guess they don't really have enough HD programming at this point to do that.

In anycase, anyone here have the new (is it out yet?) HD stand alone TIVO? I'm moving soon and was giving some thought to it, but the price is really a tad too high.

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 16:37

I was prepared to buy one immediately and transfer my lifetime membership until I found out that you can't get guide data for them in the UK. I may be moving there in a little over a year and I couldn't justify the expense for just a year. Especially since the price will likely drop after all of the early adopters buy and I'd not be able to get my money back out of it. Check here for reviews.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 16:49

Quote:
I'm not a DirecTV subscriber, but it shouldn't be. Versus is a standard def only channel.

Strange, because that game I watched last night, on that random DirecTV channel merely labeled "HD", was all "Versus" logo'ed and everything, it kept saying Versus on the screen, had the versus logo between the scores, and kept having ads for versus. All graphics were at HD resolution, everything was in 16:9 ratio and very sharp HD resolution.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 05/10/2006 16:50

Quote:
the providers that do carry the channel and want to show the HD version will have to use a 'special use' channel.

Ah, that explains it. Thanks.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 11/10/2006 20:04

Quote:
Cons:
* No OTA (this will be coming in October supposedly)

Did this come?

I've got a friend who is planning on upgrading his DirecTV setup. Did they enable this on the new box?

PS: My HR10-250 still doesn't have its v6 software upgrade.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 11/10/2006 22:45

No, but there have been 3 "upgrades" in the past 3 weeks. The official word that is OTA is coming before Dec 1st, but it's rumored to be coming "much sooner."

The upgrades have been focused on HDMI compatibility, proper DVR function, and proper MPEG4 recording. The box still isn't ready for primetime, but it's getting better with every release. The worst thing it did to me was dump a program that was missing chunks due to rain fade instead of just keeping the partial. That has apparently been fixed, but since getting the new (huge) 5-LNB dish, rainfade seems like much less of an issue. It's raining here right now, but the MPEG4 HDTV channels are working like a charm without issue.

On the whole, I think I'm more pleased with the HR20 than I would have been with an HR10-250. Compared to even the 6.x Tivo software, the menus are lightning-fast. Setting up a season pass (series link) is as easy as pressing the record button twice when hovering over a show in the guide. Contrary to my initial pros/cons, skip-to-tick and skip to end/beginning do exist. The only thing I wish it had was the dual live-bufers, but word is that DirecTV is considering adding this.

One major funtion that was enabled in last week's software upgrade was the eSATA port. It's now possible to upgrade your recording capacity simply by plugging in an eSATA drive to the back. The downside is that you can only use the internal drive or the external drive, not both at the same time. This may change, and there is talk of adding the ability to move shows between the two drives for archival purposes, but this is all largely unsubstantiated.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 11/10/2006 23:03

I'm geeked about all of those updates. In the past, DirecTV had to wait for Tivo to write updates and then they had to negotiate the features and probably pay Tivo for it. If DirecTV stays active like this, it's promising. When I worked for Hughes, they weren't known for updating their receiver's software at all.

I wonder if they follow any forums... Is the TivoCommunityForums following this at all or do you have another site?

Once they allow transfers between units, I'm there! Ethernet would be preferred.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 12/10/2006 00:28

dbstalk.com has the most active forum for this box. Earl Bonovich is a DirecTV insider of sorts and has stated that DirecTV is reading the forum.

Since DirecTV doesn't have as much in the way of choice of receivers these days, the HR20 is their flagship product. It really has to work as designed asap, or it can severely affect their reputation. Many people on that forum resent being treated as beta testers, but I would have to imagine the vast majority of them knew that going in. With the latest update that came today, I would say this box is working well enough now for the common user. One major issue that remains is pixelation during fast forward of MPEG4 recordings. Other than that, most of the show stoppers appear to have been ironed-out. There are still minor things like incompatibility with some HDMI TVs and caller ID display not always working. I'm confident these things will be fixed based on the frequent updates, but I use neither of those features.

There is still some polishing that needs to be done. OTA is the most requested, but sound effects are also disabled due to the complexity of inserting them into the digital audio stream. There was another grayed-out function, but I can't recall it right now. Dual live buffers would be great, but that was never an intended feature.

I would bet show sharing is in the works. I'm sure some form of video extraction will become possible due to the ability to use external storage.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 12/10/2006 02:48

It seems that if you pay for local channels, you get the local HD channels for free. Even if you didn't, it would be included in the $10 HD fee. So... why would people want OTA turned on unless their city doesn't broadcast the locals in HD?

Seeing how people have been talking about this unit since January and some people have reviewed it with earlier software, I found this review that is pretty recent: Link.

It mentions that you can't hide unsuscribed channels from the Guide... is this still true? I hope that's on the to-do list if true.

Posted by: Tim

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 12/10/2006 12:33

Local HD channels are only available OTA, they don't go through a satellite. At least that is how it was explained to me.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 12/10/2006 12:52

Quote:
It seems that if you pay for local channels, you get the local HD channels for free.

I'm sure you would, if they existed. Unfortunately, DirecTV's *local* re-feeds are standard-def only.

They have a few *national* HD network feeds. For example, an NBC station out of LA and one out of NY, if I recall correctly. The problem is, in order to get THOSE, you've either got to live in that town, or you've got to request permission from your local affiliates. I was denied the permission when I made the request here in Seattle. (It was the day following that when I put up my roof antenna to get the HD OTA signals.)

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 01:11

Long ago, before HD, I had east and west coast feeds of the big three networks. (Originally, the east coast CBS feed was my local station (which was also, incidentally, the first HD broadcaster in the US), which was kinda neat, but they changed it to the NY station at some point.) Then, at some point, the local ABC and CBS stations complained, and their feeds were removed, but I kept the NBC. Then, when I got HD, I had the HD feeds of NBC, too. Then someone decided that I was only eligible to receive the east coast HD NBC feed. I don't know what the rules are, but they seem very haphazard.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 01:37

Quote:
They have a few *national* HD network feeds. For example, an NBC station out of LA and one out of NY, if I recall correctly. The problem is, in order to get THOSE, you've either got to live in that town, or you've got to request permission from your local affiliates. I was denied the permission when I made the request here in Seattle. (It was the day following that when I put up my roof antenna to get the HD OTA signals.)

Seattle locals are available in MPEG4 from DirecTV. See this list. I recall DirecTV is waiting for permission to rebroadcast a few of them, but some are available right now. You would need an MPEG4 capable receiver (H20 or HR20) and a new 5-LNB dish though.

Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 01:56

I heard Detroit was first so that's what prompted me to ask.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 09:25

Quote:
I don't know what the rules are, but they seem very haphazard.

The rules aren't haphazard, it's either DirecTV's adherence to rules, or your local stations' willingness to grant permission, that's haphazard.

Early on, I think more local stations were willing to grant permission, until they realized just how many local advertising eyballs they were losing to DBS.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 09:27

Quote:
Seattle locals are available in MPEG4 from DirecTV.

<cartman>God damnit.</cartman>

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 11:06

Quote:
It mentions that you can't hide unsuscribed channels from the Guide... is this still true? I hope that's on the to-do list if true.

I will have to check that tonight.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 11:43

I always hated the way DirecTV receivers worked in that respect.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 16:40

Quote:
PS: My HR10-250 still doesn't have its v6 software upgrade.

Reaction from people that did get the upgrade doesn't look very good on TCF. My father just came to me today complaining of bad audio/video stuttering on his HR10-250. I don't know for sure if he got 6.3a, but his unit never did that before.

Either way, it looks like there are major problems with 6.3a. Hopefully Tivo can roll-out another new version quickly.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 17:05

I read some of those complaints on the forums a couple weeks ago, and as far as I could tell, those who were complaining were either:

a) encountering the video and audio stuttering shortly before the upgrade, indicating the upgrade was unrelated.
b) reporting broadcasting problems that weren't the fault of their equipment at all
c) having hard drive failures completely unrelated to the upgrade (the timing was just coincidence)
d) having audio dropout problems when using the digital audio output of the tivo (which I don't use).

Now, the fact that someone you're working with personally has been having a problem, and you specifically have checked it out with him and you're sure it's none of the above, carried more weight with me than all the posts on the community forums combined. So I'm a bit worried.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 17:10

I may go to my parent's house tonight. I will check out what's going on. I have my doubts that they got the upgrade.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 13/10/2006 18:36

Thanks. It would be nice to know for sure.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/10/2006 00:18

So, when I got to my parent's their HR10-250 was "pending restart," so it wasn't running 6.3a yet. Of course, I forced a reboot and about 30 minutes later they were up and running with the new software.

I can't say it's much faster, but I was only really testing it for a few minutes after it was upgraded, so the system could have been thrashing the hard drive with other post-upgrade activity. I set it up to use grouping and then changed the channels for a bit. Everything seemed smooth, but if there's a problem I will probably hear about it on Monday.

Back off-topic, when I came home the HR20 wasn't responding to my Harmony 880 or the original remote. I had to reboot it to regain control. That never happened before and some people have been experiencing the same thing with the new software. Thankfully, it managed to record everything requested, so the reboot is just an annoyance. Never the less, that probably shouldn't happen this far into development.

On the other hand, it's probably difficult to test for such issues when you're putting out new software on a weekly basis. I like being on the bleeding edge, so I prefer the rapid releases. "Normal" users might be less happy about having one thing fixed only to break something else.

Brad, you can hide the channels you don't receive. That review must have been based on an old version that didn't allow that.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/10/2006 04:54

Quote:
Brad, you can hide the channels you don't receive.

Automatically? Or, like all other direcTV products, do you have to manually sift through the channels by hand and individually uncheck the ones you don't receive?

Thanks for the update on your dad's Tivo. Hopefully his stuttering problem wasn't indicative of impending disk drive doom or similar.

Looks like everyone's getting v6 but me.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/10/2006 13:45

You have to manually tell it what you receive.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/10/2006 21:15

Gah. I hate that. Wonder why, so many years along, they haven't ever made that feature available.

Posted by: petteri

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 14/10/2006 23:20

Quote:
Gah. I hate that. Wonder why, so many years along, they haven't ever made that feature available.

I would guess its to remind you of the channels you could have if you only forked over the $$$. I tend to be a bit cynical though...

Posted by: gbeer

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 15/10/2006 03:39

Also, If you omit a channel, and they remove that channel from the lineup then later add it back in. Your setting is gone. Happens a lot with PPV channels.

Posted by: Tim

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/10/2006 11:56

Quote:
Looks like everyone's getting v6 but me.

I turned on the TV in my bedroom for the first time in months last night. The menu was zipping along, almost instantly switching channels. It was ridiculously faster than the TiVO in the living room, so I checked the settings.

That one was upgraded to 6.3. My normal one still hasn't, even though I made the call manually again last night. The one that was upgraded was a Phillips Brand DirecTV TiVO. The one in the front room is the HR10-250.

Edit: Fixed the Model Number of the receiver in the living room.

Posted by: robricc

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/10/2006 12:27

Your Philips box is most likely not an HD DirecTivo. I don't think there has been anything but Hughes and DirecTV-branded HD DirecTivos.

If your Philips is running fast, it's probably a Series 2 that's running 6.2. 6.2 is the latest software released for Series 2 DirecTivos and has been out for at least a year now.

Posted by: Tim

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/10/2006 14:48

Its definately not an HD model. It just surprised me that the two had different versions running, I thought they'd be in sync.

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 17/10/2006 16:07

Nope. That's the whole source of my complaint. The regular non-HD direcTivos have had the upgrades for a long long time, at least two years, and us loyal HD early-adopters have had the shaft for all this time. We feel like red-headed stepchildren here.

Posted by: jbauer

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/10/2006 02:45

pending restart, Pending Restart, PENDING RESTART!!!

Oh my lord, could it be true??? Restarting now...

- Jon

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/10/2006 03:29

Damn you.

/me goes upstairs to do the phone call....

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/10/2006 04:19

No soup for me.

I hate you, Jon.

Posted by: jbauer

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/10/2006 05:04

Well, honestly - it doesn't appear to be much of a speed difference. Since I don't have 2 shows with the same name, I can't see a folder... It's something I yearned for (daily) and now that I have it, big deal.

Tony, if I could give you mine, I would...

- Jon

P.S. I believe that this is the first time I've used the word "yearn" in a message...

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/10/2006 10:19

Quote:
No soup for me.

I hate you, Jon.

I feel your pain, Tony! I called DirecTV last night, and the guy on the other end, who didn't seem to know anything about anything, informed me that I "should have it by October 19th." Well, I'm not getting my hopes up, but at least I don't have long to wait to see if he's right...

Posted by: Tim

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 18/10/2006 11:46

My HD10-250 got upgraded yesterday also. I had no idea it was going to take 'up to an hour' to get the data off the satellite. It was kind of creepy having the hockey filter on, and the guide completely empty, even though a game was going on behind the guide.

Posted by: Dignan

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 21/10/2006 15:47

Tony!!! Check your Tivo!!! I got 6.3!!! It's about 20 times faster!!! I have folders!!!

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 22/10/2006 02:21

Anyone have ICAKE-S2DT-62 (InstantCake for Series2 DirecTiVo Units (6.2) and PTVnet-S2DT-62? My drive is eating it as I type.

Oct 22 04:17:35 (none) kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:0a (hda), sector 403333
Oct 22 04:17:37 (none) kernel: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
Oct 22 04:17:37 (none) kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=10538949, sector=403333
Oct 22 04:17:37 (none) kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:0a (hda), sector 403333

etc... etc....

Grrr. I bought the Instantcake for 4.x. Bummer.

Posted by: mlord

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 22/10/2006 12:34

Quote:

Oct 22 04:17:37 (none) kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=10538949, sector=403333
Oct 22 04:17:37 (none) kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev 03:0a (hda), sector 403333

Mmm. Every once in a while I do regret not having tidied up those messages more before handing off the code.

Translated, it says that sector 403333 of /dev/hda10 (tenth partition on first drive) is bad. This corresponds to absolute sector number 10538949 on the full drive.

Either way, perhaps it's time to get a replacement drive warmed up.

Cheers

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 22/10/2006 14:07

Yeah... and it's gotten worse and worse. I pulled the drive and ran the Maxtor tools on it and it says it's going dead, RMA it, but it's well out of warranty. Bummer... there were a few shows I really wanted to get off of it first.

Posted by: loren

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 23/10/2006 20:47

Bought it. Up and running with 6.2. Wow... definitely faster compared to 4.0.1

Posted by: tfabris

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 26/10/2006 23:34

The upgrade fairy came last night while I was asleep. 6.3a is now installed. I'm not having the stuttering problems that others have reported.

VERY first thing I noticed, though:

Took the unit out of standby mode and the screen was complete digital garbage, but the sound worked. It looked like a PC video card looks when its driver software has gone wonky. Lots of horizontal lines.

Cycling the resolution from 1080i back around through the other three choices and back to 1080i fixed it instantly without the need to reboot. PHEW. Picture looked fine.

I wondered if this was a temporary side-effect of the upgrade, so this was my first suspiction that an upgrade had been installed.

Pressed the GUIDE button and noticed it popped up instantly. I got excited about the possibility that I might have the upgrade. So I pressed the MENU button on my universal remote (which had always worked before) and... nothing happened. Hm. I pressed the Now Playing button and it worked. I noticed the screen graphics were slightly different. Yup! Upgraded Tivo! Yay!

But why didn't my Menu button work?

The menu button on the original Tivo remote worked. I'm guessing that all along I was using an old outdated IR code for my universal remote, and the upgrade removed the legacy compatibility. So I looked on the web for the advanced OneForAll codes, punched in a different, newer code for the menu (00695 instead of 00068) and all is well.

Activated the Folders feature, works nifty.

All menus and guide screens and all functions dealing with timescheduling recordings are a lot faster now. Very awesome. It's not subtle, it's like night and day. This thing is WAY faster, to a very noticeable degree. It's the way it should have worked from day one.

/me is happy.

Posted by: jbauer

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 27/10/2006 13:31

Congrats Tony! Glad you finally got it!

I should clarify that I think the reason that I didn't notice a huge speed increase is that about a week before getting the upgrade, I did a reset all of my thumbs up/down info and all of my other settings to start from scratch. This fixed a lot of the dropouts and reboots I was having. It also hugely sped up the TiVo.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=320716

So that's why I didn't notice a huge speed increase with 6.3a.

- Jon

Posted by: wfaulk

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 27/10/2006 13:55

Okay, it looks like it's about time for me to borrow a neighbor's phone line to let my TiVo call in.

Posted by: msaeger

Re: DirecTivo Series2 Hacking - 28/10/2006 21:06

Hey thanks for posting about doing a reset. My stand alone series 2 has been really slow after the latest update. Today I did the reset and it runs much faster. I had to lose all my recordings but it was worth it.

DirecTivo Series2 Hacking