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View Full Version : I need so much freakin help....

hsarci
03-17-2007, 10:46 AM
Ok so, I've had a Tivo series 2 for a while and I've always wanted to hack it. Mostly just for fun but also for the usefulness. I've softmodded my xbox so im familiar with opening boxes and swapping ide connections and whatnot...My problem is, I've looked through all these guides and a bunch of stuff and I can't seem to get a definite answer on things.

MUST you have a desktop computer to hack a Tivo?

What additional features can you get from hacking your Tivo? (or at least what are the popular ones)

Does hacking the Tivo require any aditional cables/parts or anything (excluding doing a harddrive upgrade)

Basically I'm looking for the cheapest and easiest way to hack my Tivo without having to use a desktop so I can enable MVR so I can use my Tivo+TivoServer to stream videos from my PC to my Tivo.

Thanks for the help...
ScanMan
03-17-2007, 12:56 PM
You need to ID the make/model of your tivo which will determine whether a software (killhdinitrd) mod is possible or whether you need to bust out the soldering iron for a hardware (PROM) mod. And yes, you need to remove the HD out of the tivo and mount the drive using linux (typically boot cdrom) to install a new kernel and make filesystem changes.
PlainBill
03-17-2007, 11:05 PM
If you don't have a desktop pc, hacking has been accomplished using an Intel (or AMD) based notebook and a USB-IDE adapter such as this one. (http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-To-SATA-IDE-Adapter-Cable-Power-Adapter-ISXU_W0QQitemZ320092335680QQcategoryZ74941QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) Mac users have also accomplished this, but they must compile their own utilities.

PTVupgrade has a free tools cd that I have used successfully for some time with a desktop system. Recently the folks at mfslive (http://www.mfslive.org/) have produced an improved cd.

PlainBill
singe606
03-18-2007, 08:23 PM
I recently used a USB hard drive enclosure with my laptop & the mfslive cd. No problems at all. It was much easier for me than trying to disconnect and reconnect drives within my 'internally crowded' desktop. The adapter Plainbill linked to on eBay looks even easier than the drive enclosure I used, and much cheaper... :P

Of course you also should have a serial cable too.
labbie48
03-18-2007, 08:38 PM
I have used that same adapter that PlainBill links to for backing up my PC and believe me, it's a must have adapter (and it's cheap).