# TiVo hacks flourish



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

From *CNET.Com*

Five years after TiVo introduced the rewind and fast-forward buttons to broadcast television, hackers are pushing its digital video recorder to new heights--and possibly giving the company some ideas about where to go next.

TiVo boxes are in many ways a perfect target for gadget hobbyists, providing both the means and motive to create some high-powered enhancements.

The DVRs, which use mostly off-the-shelf computer components and run the open-source Linux operating system, make it easy for curious hackers to try out their skills. Bottom line: TiVo may frown on the practice officially, but it has done little to crack down on such tinkering so far.

The devices use mostly off-the-shelf computer components and run the open-source Linux operating system, making it easy for curious tinkerers to try out their skills. In addition, TiVo has intentionally left many tantalizing features out of its boxes due to concerns over potential copyright violations.

That combination has fueled a high-stakes game of underground innovation for TiVo, which must tread carefully as it seeks to create new features to stay ahead of rivals without angering Hollywood and broadcasters such as partner DirecTV.

TiVo hacks available for download do everything from adding a Web interface to the TiVo unit, converting programs to DVD and other formats, altering TiVo native features, expanding the unit's hard drive, transferring files back and forth from the unit to the PC, and archiving shows at smaller file sizes.

"TiVo is missing some tremendous opportunities," said Riley Cassel, a programmer who last year released a popular, unauthorized extension called MFS_FTP. "There's no technical reason you couldn't watch TV across the Net...Of course, the problem is that the same software can be used to broadcast HBO or Discovery HD, so Hollywood would go nuts."

Among hard-core, high-tech TiVo users, customization is king. The risks of voiding the warranty, provoking Hollywood or even getting electrocuted aren't enough to keep some fans from prying open their units and hacking them.

"We don't really do anything--we don't condone it and don't encourage it." 
--Bob Poinatowski, product manager, TiVoTiVo may frown on the practice officially, but it has done little to crack down on such tinkering so far. In fact, some industry veterans said they believe the company is reaping significant fringe benefits as it now moves to add enhancements aimed at fending off deep-pocket rivals.

"I think it's great for TiVo and the industry," said Mark Cuban, who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion and is now president of HDNet, a provider of high-definition TV programming. "You aren't going to switch from TiVo after you have customized it."

TiVo said it will enforce its terms of service and reserves the right to pull the plug on users who violate these. But the company also acknowledged that, in practice at least, its treatment of the thriving hacker community is hands-off.

*More*


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## gglockner (Mar 25, 2004)

Chris Blount said:


> From *CNET.Com*
> Among hard-core, high-tech TiVo users, customization is king. The risks of voiding the warranty, provoking Hollywood or even getting electrocuted aren't enough to keep some fans from prying open their units and hacking them.


Get electrocuted? GMAB. Most people simply open their TiVo to upgrade the hard drive. Extraction is complex so that you have to make a very deliberate decision to extract video.


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## beejaycee (Nov 1, 2003)

gglockner said:


> Get electrocuted? GMAB. Most people simply open their TiVo to upgrade the hard drive. Extraction is complex so that you have to make a very deliberate decision to extract video.


True, but it gets to be like salted peanuts -- ya can't stop at one! :sure: 
First the harddrive isn't big enough, so you expand it. Then, it gets hard to sort through all of those shows that your new 137 bajigabyte drive can store but, hey, you hear 4.0.1b offers folders. Next, as long as you're going to 4.x, you might as well enable multi-room-viewing so you can finish watching on the bedroom tivo that movie you started watching on the den tivo. But wait, wouldn't it be nice to also see on the big screen TV all those pictures you've been taking since you got that digital camera for Christmas? Hmm, and that also would allow you to play on the home theatre that Pink Floyd album you ripped for the mp3 player you got for your birthday. Oh, and you really, really miss the on-screen caller-id that you used to have with your ol' Dish 501. By this time, it's only one little, itty bitty, teensy weensy *.tcl to install the latest hack you just heard about... No, must stop, must watch TV!  
SOMEBODY STOP ME! :eek2: Is there a local chapter of Hackers Anonymous?


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## buzzdalf (Jan 27, 2003)

LOL, I love your vision but I have upgraded my hard drive only and have no intentions or inclings to do anything else.


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## beejaycee (Nov 1, 2003)

buzzdalf said:


> LOL, I love your vision but I have upgraded my hard drive only and have no intentions or inclings to do anything else.


I would have stopped there with the new harddrives also but I wanted a 522 so badly I could almost taste it! The ability to finish watching a recorded show on the bedroom TV that I started on the den TV... <slurp, slurp, drool>. Of course, one more random reboot on a Tivo that I'm telnet'ed into to hack it unbeknownst to my SO who's watching a favorite show and I'll probably get my 'inclings' knocked right out of me! :blackeye:


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