Pre-buy advice

[cybrenergy]

I'm a complete newbie in the sense that I haven't actually got my TiVo yet. After reading a little about what you can do with it, I've decided to ditch my DVR box from Comcast and get a SA TiVo Series 2 box. I'm not going to get a DirecTV model as I don't have DirecTV. Is there any advice that you can give to somebody who's about to get a new model?

Are there any quirks with the brand new models? I know that sometimes newer models (just talking about PC hardware or other electronics) can ship with newer firmware, etc. (or operating software in the case of TiVo) that may prevent modifications, is there anything I should know about TiVo before I buy?

One thing that I'm bummed about is that the SA TiVo series 2 does not have a built in dual tuner. That, in my opinion, seems to be the only real downside to the TiVo over the Comcast DVR I currently have (which pretty much sucks).

Anyway, I do plan on reading quite a bit more to get caught up. Ideally, the first few things that I will want to do when I get my TiVo will be:

1. Hook it up to my home network via my wireless USB 802.11b NIC card.
2. Install the TiVo desktop (or other hack version) software to talk back and forth with the TiVo.
3. Install this Web hack so I can tinker with the show listings from work via my web browser.
4. Pull recorded data off the TiVo on to the PC to archive and/or burn to DVD.

Hopefully all of that is possible without too much effort. As a software developer by trade, I'm pretty good with this stuff and should be able to pick it up pretty quickly.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give me. I look forward to sticking around to learn as much as I can about pushing the TiVo to the limits.

[cojonesdetoro]

it, I've decided to ditch my DVR box from Comcast and get a SA TiVo Series 2 box.


First off, I don't have a series2 so take my .02$ FWIW.

The series 2 uses signed hardware to prevent installing 'unapproved' software. There's ways around that but it shows that Tivo is motivated to prevent series 2 hacking.

I think the Series 1 is a lot more hacker friendly. It sounds like you are better off with a series 1, given what your stated goals are for your Tivo experience. You might save a few bucks by getting a used/refurb SA1 and then upgrade later if it's what you want. You can get a driveless SA1 for <$100 nowadays. Also, Tivo has no plans to upgrade the Series 1 OS so there's little likelyhood that they'll 'dehackify' your Tivo.

Here are the Series2 vs. Series 1 pros and cons as I see them:

Pros:
- Faster CPU and more Memory
- USB (slow ver 1.1?)
- HMO
- Newer OS with more features
- Possible new, sanctioned Tivo2go feature (burn DVDs)
- Better 'future-proofing'


Cons:
- More difficult to Hack
- No Cachecard available (maybe not needed?)
- More expensive
- SA1 hacks/code are more 'mature'
- Most new hacks come out for SA1 and sometimes aterwards ported to SA2
- small case, harder to add two drives

As time goes on, these will change, The series 2 may (and has) become way more hacker friendly and will probably continue down that path but this is how I see it today.


To others reading this post:

This is just IMHO, meaning do not accept any of this as fact and do not flame me because you think the 'SA2 rulez'... I don't care. Opinions are like A-holes, everybody's got one. This is mine.

I would be interested in polite and constructive differing opinions, however. I haven't purchased an SA2 for the reasons stated above but might change my mind if somone blows enough holes through these arguments.

[cybrenergy]

This is exactly what I was looking for. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply with such detail, it really helps. I guess still not knowing what hacks do work on SA 1 and which don't work on SA 2; it's hard for me to truly realize what I'd be missing out on.

I definitely don't think that I'd be worried about putting 2 drives in the unit. After all, if the unit is a part of my home network, can't I just archive the recordings off to my PC to save space on the TiVo?

The USB is important to me because I plan on using a USB wifi card. While I know 1.1 is slow, and I'll be limited to 802.11b, I still think the flexibility of not having to run an Ethernet cable far outweighs the slower speed issue.

Ok, while I'm sure there are hundreds of hacks out there, can you (or anybody else) name some of the "must have" hacks that are just for SA 1 and that don't work on SA 2. If one of them jumps out at me and says "you gotta have that", it really could help influence my decision.

Thanks again!

[cojonesdetoro]

This is exactly what I was looking for. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply with such detail, it really helps. I guess still not knowing what hacks do work on SA 1 and which don't work on SA 2; it's hard for me to truly realize what I'd be missing out on.

I definitely don't think that I'd be worried about putting 2 drives in the unit. After all, if the unit is a part of my home network, can't I just archive the recordings off to my PC to save space on the TiVo?

The USB is important to me because I plan on using a USB wifi card. While I know 1.1 is slow, and I'll be limited to 802.11b, I still think the flexibility of not having to run an Ethernet cable far outweighs the slower speed issue.

Ok, while I'm sure there are hundreds of hacks out there, can you (or anybody else) name some of the "must have" hacks that are just for SA 1 and that don't work on SA 2. If one of them jumps out at me and says "you gotta have that", it really could help influence my decision.
Thanks again!

You'll have to see which hacks won't wokr on S2. I believe that right now there are more hacks for S1 but that may soon not be true. I occasionally find an S2 hack that has not been ported to S1. Most of the good hacks will work on an S2.

You can archive recordings off the Tivo. I have found that I almost never watch archived stuff. It's probably better to burn to DVD and watch in a DVD player if you get the werewithal to watch something archived.

As I said above, most of the really good hacks will work on an S2. I don't off the top of my head but you should be able to find if they work. Here's are what I believe to be the best hacks:

Tivoweb (pretty sure works on S2)
mfsftp (works on S2 but not as well supported)
tytools (It works with s2. best tools for making DVD from recordings. There may be some issues with deescrambling recordings.)

What you may find is that there are some little hacks that are quite useful but may be S1 only. It seems that the S1 is just more fun to hack and the S2 requires more work.

The more I go over it, the more I'm thinking that you might be just as happy with an S2. Even if there are less hacks now, it will change and probably the balance will tip towards the S2 at some point. I probably let myself be biased in my earlier post because I have several S1s.

[cybrenergy]

Thanks! I'm definitely going to pickup a S2 now. The only thing that bugs me is still that it does not have a nice "record one watch another" or even "record 2 at once" option like my current integrated Comcast DVR has.

You'll have to see which hacks won't wokr on S2. I believe that right now there are more hacks for S1 but that may soon not be true. I occasionally find an S2 hack that has not been ported to S1. Most of the good hacks will work on an S2.

You can archive recordings off the Tivo. I have found that I almost never watch archived stuff. It's probably better to burn to DVD and watch in a DVD player if you get the werewithal to watch something archived.

As I said above, most of the really good hacks will work on an S2. I don't off the top of my head but you should be able to find if they work. Here's are what I believe to be the best hacks:

Tivoweb (pretty sure works on S2)
mfsftp (works on S2 but not as well supported)
tytools (It works with s2. best tools for making DVD from recordings. There may be some issues with deescrambling recordings.)

What you may find is that there are some little hacks that are quite useful but may be S1 only. It seems that the S1 is just more fun to hack and the S2 requires more work.

The more I go over it, the more I'm thinking that you might be just as happy with an S2. Even if there are less hacks now, it will change and probably the balance will tip towards the S2 at some point. I probably let myself be biased in my earlier post because I have several S1s.

[wsly]

well, you can always go directv tivo. it records 2 at once same as comcast pvr. also the monthly tivo subscription is only $4.95 compared to over $10 for a standalone and standalone costs twice as much to buy. Not sure if the standalone has this feature... but the directv tivo has a send to vcr function for recording the shows\movies to a dvd recorder or vhs. just offering a help from a directv tivo owner (love mine)