Fan-created Home Media Option package working for OS X Tiger
If you upgraded any of your photo- and music-filled macs with Tiger (OS 10.4) in the past month, you've probably realized like I did that suddenly your TiVo can't see your mac. I was wondering why my setup behaved this way, and to my surprise, I found the answer: the current TiVo Desktop software does not work with Tiger (the installer crashes at the end).
But a cursory glance at the TiVo Community boards reveals that someone has produced a GUI app that enables your TiVo to once again see your upgraded mac. It sounds like it entailed some shell scripts that modified the way TiVo Desktop talked to the rendezvous/bonjour network and updated the XML format used by the software.
I'm kind of surprised that this fan-contributed app has been done and working for a month and TiVo still hasn't incorporated the changes into its own software yet, but this is another great example of the TiVo hacking community stepping in to fill a need. If you've upgraded your mac, this is currently the only way to see your photos and hear your music again.
I'd just like to be able to use the Home Media Option on my DirecTivo. I like having two DirecTV tuners so I can record two different shows, but I hate not having any kind of HMO support. Are there any DirecTV units that support HMO?
Posted by: Mike Cohen | June 13, 2005 at 10:07 AM
The only way to get HMO on your series 2 DirecTiVo is to hack it, replacing the 3.1 TiVo OS with the 4.0 OS from the standalone version.
I've got this setup on my directivo and it's great, though a bit of a pain to do.
Here's an earlier post I made linking to an upgrade guide describing how to do it:
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2004/09/guide_to_hackin.html
Posted by: Matt Haughey | June 13, 2005 at 10:20 AM
I already have the 6.1 upgrade on my directivo. Can I still hack it with the upgrade?
Posted by: Mike Cohen | June 13, 2005 at 02:26 PM
Yeah, I'm sure folks have figured out ways to swap out the 6.2 OS with 4.0 OS.
Posted by: Matt Haughey | June 13, 2005 at 03:35 PM
]] ...this is another great example of the TiVo hacking community stepping in to fill a need ...[[
And another great example of why as a Mac user I'm moving closer and closer to dropping TiVo in favor of a Cox DVR; why should I as a Mac-user be subsidising all the fun stuff PC users get with TiVo, and then have to watch while TiVo sits on their hands when some Mac-related trouble is seen, only to wait for the 'hacking community' to step up? It's ludicrous. And yet another subtle hint to Mac TiVo users to get the hell out.
Someone please tell me I'm wrong. It's my hope of all hopes that I'm wrong, because I don't want to move to an inferior machine but I will if I have to.
Posted by: Derek | June 15, 2005 at 07:27 AM
I echo Derek's post. I'm a Mac user that finds myself no longer evangelizing TiVo. (I'm surprised myself - I love my series 1 - but the move to overly-restrictive DRM and Window media - ech! )
Posted by: Kevin | June 18, 2005 at 08:59 PM
OS X 10.4.2 must have fixed whatever the incompatibility was, because I was able to install Tivo Desktop 1.9.1 (though the installer still appears to fail), and my iTunes collection is now visible from the Tivo.
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Posted by: Peter Back | August 07, 2005 at 06:23 AM