If I Were A Martian . . .

[mykebass]

If I were a martian who stumbled upon this forum, I would get the idea that while hacking the tivo has benefits most of the time there are problems and issues that can make the service nearly unmanagable. Nearly ever other thread is problem this or problem that. Is that an accurate statement or, once hacked, do these DTivo's perform better than normal and all the problem threads are only a small indication of what occurs in reality?

[mrblack51]

as with any hacking effort, where we push hw and sw beyond the standard uses,there are going to be issues. Many people make this stuff work fine, but they often dont post. the ones who do post are the ones who have issues. also, much of this software is in constant development, so people get issues fixed often.

is this stuff final product? not really. does it work if you are willing to put in a little effort? probably.

[bato]

I think forums like this one are made to help people with problems, so I guess all the topics will be people with problems and some people with a little more info/experience tell them what they can do, even if it's read some more.

Some people even have problems with their hardware without doing anything to it, so of course if you change something then it can stop working.

I wanted to play, so what I did is bought another drive to make changes and keep the original in safe place. This way you can undo almost everything you did to your tivo. Now with all the tests/time invested, I can extract video, create DVDs without reencode time and without commercials, monitor the temp, rename the shows to include description, undelete shows if deleted by mistake, Caller ID in my TV, transfer shows from Dtivo to SA tivo, and now every problem I encountered I was able to fix it, so I can use my time helping others.

So I stopped posting questions and started answering them.

[BubbleLamp]

There are also a lot of people who never opened their PC until they started to hack their Tivo's, and so they are learning on many fronts at the same time. DOS prompts, bash prompts, it's all Greek to them, but they want to run before they walk. Then when they blow up their systems, they post message after message about how they are stuck. This is NOT a turnkey hobby unless you pay someone to do it for you. You get out of it what you put into it.

[Ego]

OK then, in the spirit of the first reply to this (the ol' people only talk when they have problems), I'll defy that logic.

I have (2) sony SVR-2000's that are VERY hacked, (3) DSR-6000's that are VERY hacked, and (2) HDVR2's that are mildly hacked thus far. All 7 TiVos operate flawlessly, without error. None of them have ever had any problems either.

yay! 7 more non-problem hacked tivos! :)

[dhb2002]

Originally posted by Ego
I have (2) sony SVR-2000's that are VERY hacked, (3) DSR-6000's that are VERY hacked, and (2) HDVR2's that are mildly hacked thus far. All 7 TiVos operate flawlessly, without error. None of them have ever had any problems either.

yay! 7 more non-problem hacked tivos! :)


WOW!! :eek:

TivoVilla!!!! :D

[captain_video]

There seems to be a trend among newbies here. The basic rule of thumb seems to be "Hack first, Read later." The result is a multitude of questions asking how to fix what they've screwed up. I was a long time lurker before I ever attempted my first DTivo hack and never posted a question until after I had a DTivo hacked and operating without a hitch. I had some background in PVR hacking prior to coming here, having owned and modified several SA Tivos and ReplayTVs before discovering the wonderful world of DTivos.

I was in a situation where I was travelling around the country as part of my job for a period of about two years and I was unable to perform any DTivo hacks until I completed the contract I was currently working under. I had a laptop and a modem so I was able to spend hours and hours reading through this forum before I ever had the opportunity to use the knowledge I had accumulated. As a result, I was able to hack my DTivo correctly on the first try, and several others after that. Of course, not everyone here is forced into the same situation I was in and they can jump right in and hack their Tivos any time they want whether they've read enough about it or not.

I'm sure that if I had been at home when I first found DealDataBase I would have hacked my DTivo much earlier. I am actually glad that I hadn't because I learned so much more by being forced to be patient. I still don't know a whole hell of a lot about Linux but I've picked up enough to get me by.

The point is (yes, there is a point to my rant), that people come here seeking help. I, and many others, have learned so very much here and take pleasure at being able to return the favor and help other newbies. They remind me that I was in their shoes at one time. This is, after all, what forums are all about. It's a place to share ideas and offer help to those less educated or experienced. If I can provide any insight that helps others avoid the pitfalls I've experienced (not all of my hacks went smoothly) then I'm happy to help. Contrary to what some may think about me, I'm no guru. I don't contribute anything to the development of any hacks or scripts that are used here. I'm just another dumb newbie that happens to have a little more experience at hacking Tivos than others.

End of rant

[mykebass]

Good replies. I have yet to start hacking my new SAT-T60 as I am still in the processes of reading, searching, and learning. While I'm sure I'll make some mistakes, I wanted to be certain that all this research is well worth it. As with any endeavor, there are risks involved, but it simply seemed an inordinant amount of threads were devoted to problems with hacked units: it's nice to see that's not always the case.