TiVo forum

[24hourloop]

Have you considered creating a TiVo2DVD and TiVO2SVCD forum? Through a fairly common hack it is possible to read out the digital video data from a TiVo (unless you much with the internal recorder settings it is 480x480 VBR, 32kHz audio).

There are a couple of fora on the net which either focus on how to make the box do this (and how to get the data out of there, which is relatively simple) or is run by folks which have very little DVD background.

I think this board might provide valuable input to all of those that have a need to do this.

Heck, maybe DVD2SVCD could become TiVo2SVCD?

[markrb]

Considering that Tivo is a propriatery and a completely patented device I doubt it. Even the use of it's name is copy written.
On top of that the fact that you need to hack a patented device to get it to work and I think the answer is we get sued before a month is out.

Mark

[mpucoder]

You might be surprised at TiVo's attitude toward hacking their recorders. The company itself has been quite helpful in providing information necessary for many hacks. And the USB port wasn't put there for WebTV.
I think the idea of a forum is very good, the device is being used by many as a capture device.
Most "hacks" do not involve opening the case.
For those mystified by the TiVo it is nothing more than a PowerPC with a hardware mpeg2 encoder/decoder running Linux. It has a serial port that can be used with a dumb terminal to access its shell.

[24hourloop]

TiVo has been more than forthcoming in supporting 'hacking' their devices. As a matter of fact, in v 3.0 of their software they include ethernet device drivers and the upcoming version will include etherair drivers.

I have seen TiVo employees posting information openly on different forums.

TiVo runs on Linux, which alone should say something about how TiVo positions itself vs. UltimateTV/ReplayTV.

If you are deeply concerned about the 'proprietary device' (whose 'proprietary' standards are widely published all over the Internet) you can simply refer to the forum as PVR conversion/archival. There is nothing proprietary or illegal nor questionable about that.

I am not interested in how to technically pull data off a PVR (let's stick to that term for now) but how to archive it, how to process it. There are some interesting challenges. A trivial example: Why does the upsampling from 32kHz to 44.1 or 48Khz via SSRC make BeSweet do a very poor job while TMPGEnc with SSRC and toolame performs admirably.

There are many DVD/SVCD questions related to these MPEG2 datastreams (let's take that as a starting point instead of the raw data).

Maybe this can dispel your concerns.

[markrb]

If the Tivo people have no problem with it then I don't see any reason why it shouldn't at least be looked into.

However my next question is does this really fit into what this forum is about? I am not the one to answer this and have no idea if does or doesn't.

Will a Tivo forum turn into a "How to Hack it" forum or stay with the "how to convert it" that I think it should?

Even as willing as you say they seem to be I am just concered this could open a can of worms. With the MPAA already watching this site and their complete opposition to Tivo devices will we be putting fuel on the fire by adding this?

These are just concerns that I think should be considered before going ahead.

Mark

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by 24hourloop
Why does the upsampling from 32kHz to 44.1 or 48Khz via SSRC make BeSweet do a very poor job while TMPGEnc with SSRC and toolame performs admirably.when was the last time you have made that comparison ?

[24hourloop]

Couple of days ago. 0.6b65.

It is very poor. It introduces regular 'clicks' as if to make up for the difference in frequency by introducing a short delay.

It is very odd. As I said - this probles does not occur by manually running the two pieces of software.

On another note: I am not very happy with toolame anymore as it seems to die on me quite a lot of times. Many times I wind up using TMPGenc pure.

It appears there hasn't been a lot of work on toolame in a while.

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by 24hourloop
Couple of days ago. 0.6b65.that's the GUI version. post your BeSweet logfile.

[24hourloop]

Besweet is 1.4. Not sure what you mean about the log file...

[DSPguru]

well.. i believe this issue is already solved in v1.5 (http://DSPguru.doom9.org/beta.html). why won't you give it a try.. ?

[24hourloop]

Yes, this version fixes this problem.

Thank you for the update.

[DSPguru]

:)

[dar1us]

Without reading the entire post:

Almost always, excluding if you use Tivo to record something you already posess rights to... Tivo hacking is illegal. Hacking as in exporting files from TIVO to convert to SVCD, they dont endorse that do they. I havn't got one, but talking about the hacking of it has to be bending the rules a little to far, I mean, 'DVD Backup' is ok, but using something like a network card to export copywrited material from a Tivo must be illegal.

Or should I just shuttup and lay-low:D

Excuse the sig, it wont update

[mpucoder]

Exporting files from a TiVo of a copyrighted movie is no more illegal than moving files you captured with an ATi-AIW from disk to disk, or over your LAN. It all falls under fair use. And the TiVo people don't mind, it's your box.

[dar1us]

No, i agree. It is no more illegal than doing as you said, but still. If material is copyrited, you cant legally copy it. It would be against the law.

Saying all of that, I am pro a TIVo forum. But I think as the DVB/HDTV is just getting going, it could be incorporated into that. Would make sense, there is no real way it could fit into capturing, as it isn't capturing. Unless someone wants to record the analogue output of a TIVo device?

[2old2play]

can we please start a TivO2SVCD forum. I would really like to start talking more about this with a community and no other forums are really around that talk about conversion only. We really should have one here that lets people know how to convert. After all. Tivo is the same as any ATI all and wonder. Even better, it has pure digital recording from a Direct Tivo.. LET GET ONE GOING!

;)

[mrlipring]

or just a general pvr forum? covering tivo, and homebuilt ones with dvb-x cards, etc.

[Doom9]

wouldn't Tivo go with HDTV and DVB? So far I haven't noted enough interest to warrant a separate forum.

[mrlipring]

if you wanna lump it in with them, fair enough, but them tivo owners are an obsessive bunch, don't incur their wrath. ;)

[2old2play]

I think there is a huge need for the pubic to have a tivo "conversion only" forum. There are so many different ways to do it and no real certain way out there. Doom is the perfect place to do it. Set up an online vote for it and see if the people sign up. I'm sure you will get enough out there that want to talk about this. After all, tivo captures the best image out of all cards... ;)

[mrlipring]

dunno about yank/jap tivos, but the ones in britain, while excellent (discontinued) devices, the picture quality ain't all that great, even on best settings. on worst settings it's VERY ropey.

the ones you could get here only do analogue capturing, not digital stream saving or whatever.

[2old2play]

well here we have Direct Tivo that take the actually digital signal and save that to the HD. ther is no anolog conversion. So what do you say. TIVO SECTION!!!

[Doom9]

well.. I'm going to put it into the HDTV/DVB forum description as I think the subjects go together. If it turns out that there is enough traffic to warrant its own forum, I can still break it out to a new forum.

[2old2play]

thanks doom!

[Doom9]

it's done now. Enjoy.