First impressions of DirecTiVo superhackery

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First impressions of DirecTiVo superhackery

I've spent the last twelve hours or so enjoying one of the first preview drives from PTVupgrade's new PTVnet service. I'll do a full write-up later this week but so far it's really amazing stuff.

I'd like to share a quick preview. Once you've got a DirecTiVo on the network, you can use TiVoWebPlus as a front-end to add shows, sort recordings, and do some deep searching. Along with the included FTP and telnet, you can extend the basic toolkit in all sorts of ways.

This is really exciting stuff, and the start of the perfect TiVo toolset I always dreamed of having.

updated: removed stuff about hacks not related to PTVnet.

by Matt Haughey December 4, 2004 in TiVo

Comments

Tell us more, tell us more...Is this just one of the streams from the TivoWebPlus saved as a file? I've had TivoWebPlus installed on my Series 1, but haven't added the needed tools to get streaming working...if that's all I need...I'll be a happy guy. I'd be thrilled to get a nice video copy like that, encode it in DivX, and burn to DVD for long term storage (I have one of those Philips DivX capable DVD players).

Posted by: Eric at Dec 4, 2004 6:53:36 PM

Matt, that extracted MPEG will play just fine in QuickTime Player, once you install the MPEG-2 component:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/buy/mpeg2playback.html

Welcome to the world of DirecTiVo superhackery!

Posted by: Josh at Dec 5, 2004 2:21:39 AM

That's cool that the TiVO comunity has delivered network support for the DTivo boxes but the thing that really strikes me is how aweful that video looks. DirecTV actually charges you money for that? I get WAY better quality off the internet via BitTorrent and RSS. Damn.

Posted by: Ian at Dec 5, 2004 5:38:57 PM

This is great news! I've got a PTVupgrades drive in my Series 1 DTivo already, and the network connectivity/extraction has been WONDERFUL. I've left my Series2 box stock so far, but it's VERY tempting to upgrade it now. It's mostly my 2-year-old daughter's TiVo -full of Sesame Street and Blues Clues. But I still had to record some Sesame an BC on my main DTiVo so that I could extract for burning to DVD for use when travelling. Hmmmmm - time to drop a hint to the wife, with the holidays approaching :)

Posted by: AJRitz at Dec 6, 2004 9:37:04 AM

Does anyone know if they have been able to do the same with the new HD DirecTivos? I am eager to be able to archive those HD files if possible.

Posted by: Colin Davis at Dec 6, 2004 11:26:54 AM

Hi Folks,

I want to clear a few things up, as some folks are becoming concerned about what we are actually doing here. These kits do not come with the explicit ability to extract video, nor do they come with a version of software intended for standalone units only (ie 4.0 with HMO).

We feel that the introduction of networked kits gives people important functionality - control and access to the TiVo in a networked environment is the next logical step in DVR evolution.
Controlling your TiVo via the web (eg TiVoWebPlus) and having access to your system as a "linux server" is an amazing thing, in and of itself. Its an opportunity to explore and enhance the platform in the privacy of your own home, with many publicly and freely available tools that have existed for years.

We have offered networked products and services for quite some time on Series1 units and feel that the time has come to offer similar access to Series2 units. I hope others will view it this way, as well. It is good for TiVo customers to have a choice, and we think customers having choice is good for TiVo, as well.

Thanks for your support,
Lou Jacob
PTVupgrade

Posted by: Lou Jacob at Dec 6, 2004 1:33:09 PM

comment for lou:

it seems to me that there would be a healthy market for a similar upgrade to the hr10-250.

Posted by: David Duff at Dec 6, 2004 11:40:31 PM

> comment for lou:

> it seems to me that there would be a healthy market for a similar upgrade to the hr10-250.

There is definitely a market for it. However, there is an order in which we must do things, as resources are not infinite. It is a different platform, so the development work will take some time and plenty of testing. In addition, some feathers out there are ruffled, we are attempting to unruffle them now.

Thanks for your support,
Lou

Posted by: Lou Jacob at Dec 7, 2004 8:52:37 AM

Follow-up: PTVnet is now available for HR10-250 units. We've also released PTVnet DIY CD tools for S2 SD units running 3.1.1e and 6.2 of the operating system software (but not HR10-250 units, yet).

Posted by: Lou Jacob at Jun 12, 2005 7:47:14 PM

If I read correctly you do have a PTVupgrade solution for the r-10 DT-Tivo?

tia

Posted by: m@ at Oct 14, 2005 9:43:03 AM

and if you can do a r-10 is it then compatable with tivo togo?

sorry about the split post

Posted by: m@ at Oct 14, 2005 9:51:58 AM

No networking products for the R10. Just the HR10-250 and pretty much all other Series2 DirecTiVo units.

Posted by: Lou Jacob at Nov 17, 2005 12:23:36 PM