Series1 Standalone

[BlackFlux]

I purchased a Philips Series 1 TiVo - HDR212. A hard drive wasn't included with the TiVo. Right now I just have a 20 gig hard drive installed using InstantCake. I am going to switch to a larger hard drive once I the hang of things.

Eventually I plan to network my Tivo but for right now I just want to use it as a VCR (manual recording). I am at the Guided Setup screen. Why do I do next? Do I plug in the phone line in eventhough I don't plan to subscribe to the Tivo service?

[mbellot]

Yep.

You need to go through guided setup to configure your inputs (cable/antenna/sat/etc) and to get the channel information loaded.

You may get some guide data "free", but unless you sub the unit it will run out in about 7-10 days and you'll be left setting up manual recordings.

Its how I use my HDR-312 and I love it. No more tapes to keep track of anymore. :D

You may want to spend a little time getting a serial bash prompt going so you can run edit-title.tcl, otherwise your Now Playing list will get rather hard to navigate. All shows will be shown as Manual Recording and the channel #, nothing really descriptive.

Enjoy your new digital VCR.

[BlackFlux]

I am stuck at the second call stage of the guided setup. At first I kept getting “Failed. Modem Not Responding” error during the first call but it finally connected and now I get that same error trying to connect for the second call. I have tried it several times just like the first call but it won’t connect.

[cheer]

Do you have good ol' POTS-type phone service, or are you trying to dial up over a VoIP provider like Vonage or AT&T's Callvantage?

[BlackFlux]

regular landline

[cheer]

It's possible that the modem in your unit is no good (or failing). TCF has some stuff about using an external modem w/ppp; you might check there.

[BlackFlux]

That's exactly what I didn't want to hear. I have been doing some research on another Tivo fourm and found some information about how maybe the modem needs to be reset. But that's not possible during the guided setup.

[mbellot]

That's exactly what I didn't want to hear. I have been doing some research on another Tivo fourm and found some information about how maybe the modem needs to be reset. But that's not possible during the guided setup.

You can bypass guided setup if that will get you where you need to be to reset the modem, but you'll (obviously) end up in a less than useful state from a usability standpoint and need to re-run guided setup once you get your modem situation resolved.

You'll need a bash prompt running over the serial port, which probably means sticking the drive in a PC for a couple minutes, and the TCL script attached to the last message of this thread (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28557)

[BlackFlux]

:confused:

If I connect the drive to my PC do I still need a serial cable? Is there any instructions that I can follow? I think I really need to get a better image for my Tivo because the one I have is suspect.

[mbellot]

:confused:

If I connect the drive to my PC do I still need a serial cable? Is there any instructions that I can follow? I think I really need to get a better image for my Tivo because the one I have is suspect.


Its two separate steps.

First you need to hook the drive up to your PC and use one of the many boot CDs (PTV_lba48, mfs_tools, etc) to gain access to the drive so you can enable the bash login on the serial port. You could also put the script on the drive at this time to save the hassle of transferring it via the serial port later.

After you have done that you put the drive back in the Tivo, login through the serial port and execute the script. Reboot the machine and you should be out of guided setup.

There is not really a "step by step" guide, if this is over your head then you need to spend some reading through the Series 1 forums to get a handle on the basic hacking process.

One thing to be very careful of... When you put the Tivo drive in your PC make absolutely certain you don't boot into windows. Windows will "tag" the drive and make it no longer work in the Tivo without re-imaging.

[BlackFlux]

Thanks mbellot, I follow but this is my very first Tivo and all I wanted to be able to do is manually record like VCR’s. I wanted to get comfortable with the Tivo before I started hacking it. I know this is because can’t get past the second call but I am starting to think I should return this lemon.

Are there any series 2 standalone Tivo’s that will allow me to do what I could do to the series 1 Tivo without subscribing to the Tivo service? All I want to do is digitally record some TV shows.

[cheer]

Some or all of the Toshiba and Pioneer DVD units came with Tivo Basic (http://www.pvrcompare.com/tivobasic.html) which can do what you're asking. A quick search of eBay shows some Toshiba units going in the $250-$300 range, and for whatever reason the Pioneers going for a lot more. (I know next to nothing about these units, so maybe there's some whiz-bang feature in the Pioneers, but I don't see it.)

I don't think either are considered "Series2.5" units and thus should be hackable, but if I'm wrong someone (safe money is on Jamie) will correct me. :)

Odds are it would be a lot cheaper just to buy a non-Tivo DVDR/hard drive unit at Your Local Electronics Emporium to do what you want. Tivos, IMO, only really show their value when subscribed.

[Jamie]

I don't think either are considered "Series2.5" units and thus should be hackable, but if I'm wrong someone (safe money is on Jamie) will correct me. :)Just to oblige :)

Toshiba sd-h400 is a dvd player only (not writer) and is an S2 (model 264 code name "Jyounetsu"). All the other Toshiba tivos are dvd writers and are S2.5 (model 565 "Toshiba Elmo"). The Pioneer dvr810H is a S2 dvd writer (model 275 "Takara" ). You can generally distinguish S2 from S2.5 by the first digit in the model number (2 verses 5).

Seems like the price on the tivo-basic boxes have shot up since lifetime service for SA's isn't offered anymore for full tivo service.

[cheer]

Well at least that explains why the Pioneer is so expensive -- hackable DVD writer. :)

Thanks as always, Jamie.

[mbellot]

Thanks mbellot, I follow but this is my very first Tivo and all I wanted to be able to do is manually record like VCR’s. I wanted to get comfortable with the Tivo before I started hacking it. I know this is because can’t get past the second call but I am starting to think I should return this lemon.

Are there any series 2 standalone Tivo’s that will allow me to do what I could do to the series 1 Tivo without subscribing to the Tivo service? All I want to do is digitally record some TV shows.


Its not really that difficult. It simply requires a little patience and a fair bit of reading.

I was in the exact same spot about 18 months ago. I wanted a simple "digital VCR" with no strings attached ($13/mo are some mighty big strings).

It probably took me two weeks to get up to speed, reading through stickies and old threads, but I got there. Your situation is a little different since you have an iffy modem, but that doesn't change the basic requirements by much.

No offense to the fine people here (there are some awesome developers), but you may get more of what you're looking for over at TCF (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/). They have a much more relaxed attitude towards handholding newcomers through the first steps. From my experience DDB is where you come once you have the training wheels off your Tivo. :D

[BlackFlux]

Wow that's too expensive. Guess I will keep messing around with what I got and if I can't get the modem to dail out I will send it back. I just got it so I should have a few days. Thanks cheer, Jamie, mbellot. I will post updates just in case someone else has this problem.

[ScanMan]

BlackFlux,

I've found Tivo modems to be very finicky; I've had it work on one phone jack and not another, had trouble with interference with DSL on the same phone line due to filtering. I would verify it's definitely a modem problem, by trying different jacks, even take it over a friends house and see if you can make the call. If that all fails, pretty sure your modem is shot. I think it's mentioned earlier in the thread but you can use an external modem with a little tweaking; there is a thread at TCF...also you can use PPP to connect to your PC and have it make the connection, although admittedly that's not a trivial exercise. Don't give up, you can work around this with some effort.

[BlackFlux]

I made my own serial cable and ran MFD Tools 2. I have SecureCRT running am I am at the "bash-2.02#" prompt. What do I do now? I have been reading all night and can't seem to find the next step. I think I am having information overload.


:confused: :mad: :confused: :mad:

[mbellot]

I made my own serial cable and ran MFD Tools 2. I have SecureCRT running am I am at the "bash-2.02#" prompt. What do I do now? I have been reading all night and can't seem to find the next step. I think I am having information overload.


:confused: :mad: :confused: :mad:

Happens to the best of us.

First, congrats on getting the serial connection up and running.

If you copied the setupcomplete.tcl script to the HD when you had it in the PC with MFS Tools then all you need to do is find it and execute it.

If you didn't then you'll need to get it on to the Tivo in one of two ways.

First way, better option: If you also installed an ftp server (tivoftpd) when you got your serial connection set up then just run that and ftp the file over.

Second way, less fun but it doesn't require any extra work up front: Use the "rz" command and transfer the file over using zmodem. It means your terminal program needs to support zmodem transfers, but you should be able to find one (worst case I'm pretty sure HyperTerminal will work).

Once the file is on the tivo you'll need to execute it with: "tivosh setupcomplete.tcl"

When its finished type "reboot" and the Tivo should restart.

Assuming everything went right you should find yourself at the main menu when the tivo is done booting, not in guided setup.

Good luck, and congrats again.