HR20 Info?

[DocTauri]

So do we actually have any info on the HR20 yet? I saw someone somewhere say it was running a unix/linux OS, but no info on how that was confirmed. I understand the latest os turned on the esata port, but with limited functionality. Has anyone ever pointed a sniffer at it to see if the network port is active? Has any headway been made in analyzing the hard drive? Do we yet know if the OS is in firmware, or on HD?

I've looked around for answers, but haven't found any. If anyone knows of another forum where I might find this, please forward.

Thanks,
Doc

[bozo8787]

So do we actually have any info on the HR20 yet? I saw someone somewhere say it was running a unix/linux OS, but no info on how that was confirmed. I understand the latest os turned on the esata port, but with limited functionality. Has anyone ever pointed a sniffer at it to see if the network port is active? Has any headway been made in analyzing the hard drive? Do we yet know if the OS is in firmware, or on HD?

I've looked around for answers, but haven't found any. If anyone knows of another forum where I might find this, please forward.

Thanks,
Doc

It's a waiting game. Let's be patient for the present Tivo gods to give the HR20 a chance. And since those of us that own one are quite aware that it's still very buggy or should we say beta, its still too early for it to compete with say the HR10-250.

Also, there are actual Tivo gurus that don't even own a HDTV, or are not with D*, thus we must wait even longer. And don't forget the tivo-loyalty-issue as well. Some are not even fond of this little corner we have here for the HR20, per site title "Tivo & DirecTivo Hacking" . The only thing on our side is the Directivo part of it. Since D* divorced Tivo with time HDDVR hobbies will evolve.

[alldeadhomiez]

It's a waiting game.

Typically, very little progress is made that way.

I am disappointed to see that the guy who lobbied so hard for an HR20 forum and finally got his wish, has nothing to post in it.

A reasonable first step would be to pull the drive and start poking around. Interesting blocks to hexdump and post would include: the first sector(s) with nonzero data, any sectors with ASCII or UTF-16 text, binary strings containing gzip signatures, anything that disassembles to valid code for the appropriate CPU, etc.

Other useful details would include: photos/lists of components on the board, links to datasheets for those components, educated guesses on what those components are used for, possible test header locations, etc.

Are there appendices or copyright notices in the owner's manual that indicate that open source software is used in the product? How about GPL notices that tell you how to request the source code?

Can you find any interesting patents that might apply to the unit?

What are the known OS versions, and what are the deltas between them?

If you make a bitwise copy of the hard drive, does the new drive work?

If you make a bitwise copy of the drive, then take an OS upgrade, then swap the drive again, does the OS revert to the old version?

If any of this information is scattered around on other forums, it would be convenient to provide links to those threads.

[DocTauri]

ADH, Thanks for the pointers. I am in the process of freeing up 2x250's for playing with this. I must say that it seems that they (NDS) looked at the existing Tivo and why we were hacking it, and tried to accomodate those demands. Off button on remote turns off unit (sure it still buffers, etc, but no video output demands); onboard ethernet, esata, usb; onscreen callerid, disk usage indicator, etc. My largest gripe is that it still feels like a beta release. Maybe RC, but certainly not ready for prime time. My other complaint is that 30 second skip is actually 30 second FF. Hit it once, it FF's at full speed until it hits 30 sec. Now, on the plus side is that I can hit it multiple times (and it displays on the status bar how many that is), to make it go like 3 min. in advance, but still, nothing like the instantaneous jump we're all used to. Oh, and the 7th circle of hell surrounding the directional buttons on the front of the unit have to go. It made my living room look like the Kenny Rogers restaurant on Seinfield!

Once I get my drives freed up, I'll play a little to see what I can figure out and post it here.

Doc

[DocTauri]

FYI: The only references in the user's manual to GPL/GNU/Open Source are:

B. License Restrictions
...
The Software may include some components that are covered by “free software” licenses, open source licenses and other similar license use rights, which require such components to be used, modified and/or distributed only under the terms of such licenses. Any such components are subject only to the terms of such licenses, and not these Terms.

G. Additional Information
Certain additional terms and information for the Software and certain third party software (including the text of licenses applicable to any free, open source and other similar software that may be included in the Software) may be found in the DIRECTV Customer Agreement, the DIRECTV website located st www.directv.com, and the GNU website located at www.gnu.org.

Now, while it doesn't actually state they are using some open source, it *implies* it, but no indication how to obtain the source. Of course, a site saerch of DirecTV.com for gnu, gpl, linux, open source, free software, all fail. I guess I'll have to contact them and see what they say.

Doc

[captain_video]

There's an entire forum dedicated to the HR20 over at dbstalk.com. Earl Bonovich seems to be the "champion" for the HR20 and has a very detailed review of the DVR posted in a sticky with lots of photos inside and out. You may be able to identify some of the major chips from the photos but I haven't looked at them in a while and don't recall how good the resolution is of the photos.

There have been quite a few posts indicating that swapping out the original SATA drive with a different one (i.e. larger) works quite easily IIRC. I don't remember if using a larger drive actually gives you the expected increase in capacity or if it indicates the original size similar to restoring an image to a Tivo without expanding it. I do know that the external SATA ports have been enabled via a recent software update but I believe the OTA tuners are still inactive.

[oakwcj]

I've had my HR20's ethernet port connected to my router for about a month. Until the latest update, it didn't communicate with the router and no IP address was assigned. Today, it showed up on the list of attached devices with a MAC address and "DIRECTV-HR20" as its device name. I still can't ping it or telnet to it, but it is reporting itself to the router's DNS server.