I'm in the market for a Tivo or Replay and noticed that the new TiVo's have USB 2.0 jacks and the RePlays have Ethernet. TiVo hasn't yet said what they want to do with the USB, but it seems that there is something that the RePlay could do that we've been wanting for months... play our mp3 collection!

I doubt I'm the first to think of this, but with the RePlay's ethernet, would it be hard to have it stream mp3s on a home LAN to our entertainment racks and give us on-screen control? It has been a request on the Rio Reciever board for a long time (and even on the Central). I'm just hoping that there isn't a move to have the files stored on the RePlay - it would only eat up storage.

Hmm... didn't Rob hint that perhaps, just maybe, the plan would be to scrap the current Reciever "server" software and write a new one to work with other product plans? hmm..

What TiVo uses USB for (for now)

The problem is that by now, everyone knows that Tivo "supports" broadband via an ethernet dongle, but there is absolutely no idea what the ports will be used for in the future. Not even a hint.

didn't they announce they are having a service where you pay extra and you can view photos and play music from the tivo. I would guess they would get used for that.

Maybe this might work?

So, if all your Tivo's are going to start playing mp3's and photos, aren't they ascending to the level of general purpose computer (sans office products)? If so, can we hardware hacks not just create our own Tivo's? What's the proprietary component(s) of a Tivo that make it so unique? And could those components be dupilcated or emulated in a standard beige-box PC that we build ourselves?

'Cause hell, if we could build it, we could do whatever we wanted with it. Ethernet, USB, MP3, photos, Linux, WebTV (hahaha). Anything.

The obvious proprietary component is the software. I doubt they'll get to a point where they sell the software to you if you wanted to make your own box.

What makes a Tivo a Tivo is the best damn UI ever, a kick-ass remote control, and the service you pay for.

Tivo also runs Linux. So, like the empeg, there are tons and tons of hacks out there such as Ethernet cards, add-on hard drives and video extraction...

USB2 jacks? Are you sure? I was always under the impression that the Tivo series 2 had 2x USB1.1 jacks, which kinda limits the throughput it'll manage...

Hugo

Hugo, I read it on the internet so it's gotta be true. Looking into it more, it seems it is just USB 1.x for at least "some" units and rumors of 2.0 for newer models? (The new Sony was rumored to have 2.0 jacks, but the Sony site just says "usb"). That would make external drives too slow I'd think, but internet application would still be possibile? Thanks for pointing that out.

On a side note, I just talked my brother-in-law (a fellow empeg owner) into buying the RePlay. I ended up getting a Tivo only because I can get one with a built in DirecTV tuner that records the mpeg2 stream right from the dish - no additional compression generation. I imagine that DirecTV has an exclusive contract with Tivo (but they offer Ultimate TV too, so maybe not?) but does anyone know if RePlay has a contract with any content providers - cable or satellite?

EDIT: More confusion. If I'm right, there is only one Tivo employee who checks these forums... it's scarey how one panic post can lead to another with this group. I saw one post mentioning how Hughes didn't make use of the usb ports yet turn into a thread where everyone thought Hughes was out to get them and dozens of people cancelled their orders. I'm SO SO thankful that we have some SonicBlue employees (and others who are in the know - Mark, Tony, etc) who keep us in line.

There may only be one TiVo employee who officially reads, but there are others who read.

Read this

Just remember that nobody is as helpful as the folks at empeg.

TiVolutionary works for SonicBlue now, apparently.

Yeah, I remember someone posting about that. Seems funny for someone who had a screen name like that I guess you gotta go where the money is.

A question:
Why is it that the series 2 Tivos can be used on any connection, ie: cable or satelite? Why didn't they incorporate this into the original model? Do you need a card for the new units to use a sat connection?

The original units could use a satellite; My neighbor had a SA series 1 he used before the DirecTiVo was announced. It just needs to use the IR blaster to tune the satellite tuner box.

Or is that not what you mean?

I'm not sure now... I'll try mine again...

Which satellite system do you have?

I know the AT&T branded TiVo can control the AT&T digital cable boxes directly. It may be that Series 2 units can control some satellite boxes directly instead of via IR blaster; I don't know, but as long as the TiVo could change channels, you could always control whatever with it.

I never set my TiVo up to control my digital cable box. Maybe I should, since our viewing patterns haven't worked out quite like I expected.

I use my Series 1 TiVo with a first generation Sony DirecTV receiver and the TiVo controls the receiver perfectly via a ``serial'' cable (except on initial power-on -- I have to reset the receiver if the power goes out). No IR-Blaster required.

I hope you have your receiver on a UPS, then

I have to reset it occasionally, but it's not a big problem. I should probably get around to putting all of that stuff on a UPS.

I actually need to replace the UPS my TiVo was on. It died, despite claiming to be happy, one day. That was annoying.

In reference to UPSes dying without warning, take a look at these notes about (APC) UPS batteries, specifically the section entitled ``Finally, here is what Carl Erhorn has to say about batteries''.

I suppose I should set up apcupsd. PowerChute is useless since I'm not using Windows.

It's actually pretty sweet. Does more stuff than the free PowerChute does.

PowerChute is useless since I'm not using Windows.

Not true.

FYI, Powerchute Plus for OSes other than Windows and Linux is $150. And it still isn't half as good as apcupsd. Not to mention you can't get it from them anymore and the ``replacement'' can only be controlled from a Windows machine.

Ok. So I'm, out of touch

Not to mention you can't get it from them anymore and the ``replacement'' can only be controlled from a Windows machine.

That's true, but I'll share.