Big technical question about SA Tivos.

[zqfmbg]

This has probably been asked over and over again, but I haven't been able to find a source.

Basically, I got ahold of a SA Tivo whose modem doesn't work. It's still very useful to me, though, but I want to try writing my own system software for it. So, I have these questions:

1. How exactly does the SA Tivo boot up? I can presumably dig out the PPC403GX reference manual and figure out where it starts execution, but I won't really be able to make sense of it without some idea about how the board is laid out.

2. Does anyone have datasheets on the encoder and decoder?

It'll be interesting to see if I can make this thing run. The more info I have up front, the less I have to reverse engineer.

[MrBassMan]

If it's only the modem thats broken, you should be able to put in a Tivonet card (www.9thtee.com). If the TIVO detects a network card it doesn't bother trying to use the modem.

9thtee also used to have modem repair kits, I haven't checked recently but I expect they still sell them.

[Gondola]

You can also add an external modem or run PPP over a home-made or purchased serial cable.

I have personally gone the PPP-over-serial route with my Tivo. It was a lot cheaper than a TurboNet card. But if you plan to do video extraction, the TurboNet is the way to go.