Connecting Tivo To PC

[Blaize]

I have been reading the FAQ's I just want to know if I only want to connect to the pc do I have to go through all the steps in the FAQ's or can I just skip to the Turbonet?

[JustCuz]

Go through all the steps.

[captain_video]

The FAQ is not a How To per se but rather a list of answers to most commonly asked questions, although I wrote it with some instructional tips included. It covers a lot of other topics besides Turbonet. If you want to connect your Tivo to your PC then you've started in the right place. I'd suggest reading the entire FAQ and then check out any other info regarding Turbonet, ethernet connections, communication via telnet, ftp, and video extraction since these are all related to using a Turbonet. Look through the How Tos Only sticky and then look through the other stickys in the various forums so you'll have a good idea of what's going on.

[JustCuz]

Just to clarify...if you want to do anything at all with your DTiVo, you MUST install xtreme. You can't get a bash prompt or do much of anything else until that's done. It's the most major step in the process, and must be done. If you want to do video extraction (copy, rip, etc. of recorded programs), you have to run noscramble. If you're doing all that, the rest of the hacks you may or may not choose to install are pretty simple, really.

Good Luck!

[captain_video]

Just to clarify...if you want to do anything at all with your DTiVo, you MUST install xtreme.

This couldn't be any further from the truth. There are lots of people that have Turbonets, caller ID, bash, and many other hacks on their DTivos that never installed 2.5Xtreme. Just check out the Tivo Community Forum if you don't believe me. They do a lot of hacks that are non-extraction related and consider Xtreme to be a dirty word. 2.5Xtreme just makes it easier to perform many of the hacks because it sets up bash for you.

[Switch17]

This couldn't be any further from the truth

Completely agree. I did my very first hack with the old fixsub.tcl file, pulling the drive and using dylans boot disk. 25xtreme just made it easy for the new guy to get started. They've got a lot of hacks at the tivo community boards I'm itching to play with too, just need the time to look at them.

[JustCuz]

Well, I guess that shows how much I know.

Sorry for my misinformation...that's 3 times, now that I've been wrong (ever)!

[captain_video]

Don't sweat it. I'm constantly getting corrected when I give out false information (unintentionally, of course).

[sabasigh]

I thought I had my ducks in a row in my project to hack my DirecTivo...but something just came up that sorta confused me.

If my ultimate goal is to extract video from my DirecTivo...do I need to start with the 2.5 Xtreme image on a blank drive or can I just apply Superzap's 3.1 update to my current 3.1.XXXXXX unhacked DirecTivo?

After reading the stickies, my plan is to:

Backup the image of my current, unhacked DirecTivo.
Apply the image to a larger hard drive.
Boot & test.
Pull drive and apply Superzap's 3.1 update with prom flash.
Boot & test.
Pull drive and add the original DirecTivo hard drive as my B drive and run the prog to expand the drives to full capacity.
Reinstall drives...boot & test

Then dive back into the forum to "learn" how to navigate the Tivo operating system.

So is applying SZ's 3.1 update to my unhacked Tivo image gonna be enough of a base to allow future video extraction?

[captain_video]

I was always under the impression that you had to install 2.5Xtreme first but after re-reading the readme file it does appear that you can install either upgrade (i.e. 2.5.2 or 3.1) on top of a stock OS version, as long as you flash the EEPROM during the installation. There's one change I would suggest when performing the upgrade. When you restore your backed up image to your larger A drive, include the original drive as your B drive and expand the partitions at the same time using the commands outlined in Hinsdale's How To. Make sure you expand the swap file at the same time because it's more difficult to do after the fact (this only applies if your total drive capacity is > 140GB). Now all you have to do is apply the upgrade with the PROM flash and you're almost done. Activate the desired hacks using the xPlusz commands, install a Turbonet adapter, and install the extraction utilities you plan on using and you're ready to extract videos. Just remember to activate noscramble prior to making any recordings or else you won't be able to extract any videos.

[sabasigh]

Originally posted by captain_video
...There's one change I would suggest when performing the upgrade. When you restore your backed up image to your larger A drive, include the original drive as your B drive and expand the partitions at the same time using the commands outlined in Hinsdale's How To.

I don't know if that's a good idea, since I don't want to touch my Original B drive UNTIL I have verified my backup image works. If I end up zapping the original B drive while restoring my backup...and if the backup is bad...then I'll be SOL.

Originally posted by captain_video
...Activate the desired hacks using the xPlusz commands, install a Turbonet adapter, and install the extraction utilities you plan on using and you're ready to extract videos.

Couple more quick questions...Do I have to activate Telnet thru the Phone prefix before I can access the unit thru a bash prompt on my Telnet PC terminal?

And once I activate services like Telnet, FTP, and Tivoweb thru XP commands...do they automatically keep running if the unit is in Standby mode?

...and do they automatically restart if I do a Reboot of the unit?

Thanks....you guys rock!

[sabasigh]

bump...

[SR712]

yes.

[captain_video]

I don't know if that's a good idea, since I don't want to touch my Original B drive UNTIL I have verified my backup image works.

There are unhacked backup images available for download from the abs.net site referenced in a multitude of places so I wouldn't let that slow you down. Still, there's nothing wrong in doing what you suggest but it does take more time. Hey, it's your Tivo so do it any way you want. We're just here to offer suggestions and support. Go for it!

[ttabbal]

Originally posted by sabasigh

So is applying SZ's 3.1 update to my unhacked Tivo image gonna be enough of a base to allow future video extraction?

It will work, but is not required for extraction. I can extract and I don't have ANY version of Xtreme on my DTivo. I did the following:

Install Turbonet card
Put drives in PC and boot the nic_install CD from the Turbonet site.
Follow the turbonet install directions (backup, flash, run install script)

Now, if you did it right, you have networking, telnet, and FTP enabled on the Tivo. You can do the rest with FTP and telnet.

Upload and install noscramble (or use XPlusZ if you want more hacks)
Upload extraction program and run the server side.
Run the PC client and extract something recorded AFTER noscramble was activated.

I found mfs_ftp to be very easy to set up and use (see the thread in the extraction forum about it). TyStudio was also very easy to work with. They both have pros and cons, I'm still deciding what I'm going to use long term, though I will probably contribute code to TyStudio once I wrap my head around the TyStream and MPEG specs.