RE: Buying Tivo's My Experience

["Dr John Tankard" <john@xxxxxxx>]

Title: Message

There are some reports of problems with big drives, in that the housekeeping operation has a bigger overhead, I understand that as a work around you may need to switch off tivo's recommendations auto record feature

 

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Mick Furlong [mailto:hiltoneltd@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 01 March 2002 11:31
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: RE: [ukha_d] Buying Tivo's My Experience

Don

 

I have never heard of the address chips being swapped, as it is almost certainly not socketed you would have a high chance of ending up with two dead tivos!

 

To be honest if you follow the instructions and don't drop a cuppa on the open unit I think the chances of success are very high. Putting a 120 gb disc in to get around 40 hours of best quality recording (I think) has got to be worth it!

 

There are also a couple of guys on the Tivo forum who will do the upgrade for you if you are really worried.

 

The Ethernet hack looks great, it is just a pity there doesnt seem to be away to mount networked drives on the tivo. I believe it uses raw disc formats which is probably why although the Linux Gurus will probably know better;)

 

 

Mick

 

 -----Original Message-----
From: Don McAllister [mailto:donmc@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 01 March 2002 11:21
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: RE: [ukha_d] Buying Tivo's My Experience

Yes, I knew about the HD hack but wasn’t sure if John was talking about something else. The idea of using monthly subs first before hacking is a good one. Wish I’d thought of it before taking out the lifetime one!! I wonder if the address chip is transferable?

 

Don

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mick Furlong [mailto:hiltoneltd@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 01 March 2002 11:07
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: RE: [ukha_d] Buying Tivo's My Experience

 

The only problem with this is that you invalidate your warranty once you open it.

 

Not a problem for me and I will be hacking away like a good un I just think people should be aware.

 

But it isn't like invalidating the warranty on your PC, the Tivos have a address chip inside which is linked to the subscription for each machine. So if you pay the £200 lifetime subsciption and then blow up your Tivo you have lost £400.

 

Best advice I have heard is to go on the monthly subscription...hack the hell out of it and then once you are sure it is stable switch to the lifetime subscription.

 

I must admit I already feel the need for a larger drive after 3 days!

 

Mick

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger [mailto:roger@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 01 March 2002 11:07
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: RE: [ukha_d] Buying Tivo's My Experience

TiVo is just about 'hack heaven' you can:
-      Add a larger and/or second hard disk (max 274GB)
-      Add a network card
-      Add more memory
-      Run a small webserver on it and control it from your PC
-      Use the numerous backdoors via the RC
-      ....

Roger Shingler

-----Original Message-----
From: Don McAllister [mailto:donmc@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 01 March 2002 10:16
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Buying Tivo's My Experience


And what hacks might these be then John?

Don (another Tivo newbie)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dr John Tankard [mailto:john@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 01 March 2002 09:58
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [ukha_d] Buying Tivo's My Experience
>
> Hi as you may know I got a Tivo, what a bit of kit !
>
> Unfortunately yesterday it died :-( white screen of death !
>
> I have to say I was I bit worried as I have purchased it mail order
from
> Mr Tonks who I have never dealt with before, however I called
yesterday
> late afternoon, and I have a replacement this morning, he did not
> require by box back to check that it was dead. Now that is what I call
a
> customer service !
>
> I have no connection with Mr Tonks other than I am a satisfied
customer,
> any one wanting his number again its 01922 615212
>
> Now I have just got to decide if I apply the hacks, much of the notes
> recommend that you back up your tivo before you switch it on to make
the
> image file small enough to fit on a CD, but since I have had on dead
> unit I am thinking of waiting for a couple of months to be sure its ok
> before invalidating the warrantee. I am just relived that I did not
read
> up on the hacking before I got my unit, because I would have hacked it
> straight away and could have been out of pocket to the tune of £200.
>
> When I hack it I am not going to bother with the CD route, I will get
a
> spare drive and use the tools to clone it.
>
> Has anyone on the list applied the hacks ?
>
> Does anyone know what happens if you apply the hack, get the software
> upgrade and then at a later date have to revert to the backup, will
tivo
> download a new upgrade ?
>
> John
>
>
>
>