Benefits of NoCSO patch in multi tivo house.

[pdd]

Hi All,

Just wanted to get some opinions from people here about the NoCSO patch to tivoapp. (I hope I am not confusing it with the CCI one)

Anyway with this patch recordings are stored unencrypted on the tivo's hard drive. To extract these shows you pull them off via mfs_ftp then run them through s3tots (or have this running on tivo with mfs_ftp) then you have an mpeg stream to do what you want with.

Without the patch you need to can extract the show from the tivo using mfs_ftp then run it through tivodecode with your MAK key. Then you have a mpeg to do what you want with.

Is the above correct for a non patched tivoapp? Mine is patched so I don't know. Also does anyone know if tivodecode works with Australian .tivo files? I know the author of s3tots had to modify his code slightly as our recordings contained extra streams.

The primary reason I ask these questions is that I have 3 TivoHD's in my house. 2 not chipped and 1 chipped. I would like to be able to transfer shows bettween these tivos but I am aware that this is not possible if a tivo has NoCSO patch applied. I would still like to be able to archive shows though from the chipped tivo so don't want to interfere with that.

So the question is in my situation.... is the NoCSO patch important or really just there for convenience?

Thoughts?

[tivo4mevo]

Just wanted to get some opinions from people here about the NoCSO patch to tivoapp. (I hope I am not confusing it with the CCI one)

Anyway with this patch recordings are stored unencrypted on the tivo's hard drive. To extract these shows you pull them off via mfs_ftp then run them through s3tots (or have this running on tivo with mfs_ftp) then you have an mpeg stream to do what you want with.

Without the patch you need to can extract the show from the tivo using mfs_ftp then run it through tivodecode with your MAK key. Then you have a mpeg to do what you want with.

You have it correct. The so called "NoCSO" patch is distinct from the "CCI" patches as they serve different purposes.

Is the above correct for a non patched tivoapp? Mine is patched so I don't know.

Have you tried removing the patch to see? but yes that's correct.

Also does anyone know if tivodecode works with Australian .tivo files? I know the author of s3tots had to modify his code slightly as our recordings contained extra streams.

I can't say definitively, but if you use the same version of TiVoDesktop as US folks, then I would wager it would be the same. Additionally, I would think that irrespective of the stream content, the encryption might remain the same. Try it and report back your results.

The primary reason I ask these questions is that I have 3 TivoHD's in my house. 2 not chipped and 1 chipped. I would like to be able to transfer shows bettween these tivos but I am aware that this is not possible if a tivo has NoCSO patch applied. I would still like to be able to archive shows though from the chipped tivo so don't want to interfere with that.

So the question is in my situation.... is the NoCSO patch important or really just there for convenience?

Thoughts?

There is discussion on this very topic in this thread: link

I believe that the consensus was that for those running a mixture of hacked and unhacked units, many of them do not apply the NoCSO patch so that MRV works, and they then tackle extraction (which is only possible with mfs_ftp if NoCSO is applied) using TTG/tivodecode (I'm not sure if tivodecode will work with the raw TS streams obtained from mfs_ftp, as you seemed to suggest).

[StanSimmons]

I have several S2/S3 boxes and I DO NOT run the NoCSO patches. TTG/TivoDecode works fine for me, it isn't as fast, but it works well.

I do use the CCI patch on my S3 boxes.

[pdd]

I believe that the consensus was that for those running a mixture of hacked and unhacked units, many of them do not apply the NoCSO patch so that MRV works, and they then tackle extraction (which is only possible with mfs_ftp if NoCSO is applied) using TTG/tivodecode (I'm not sure if tivodecode will work with the raw TS streams obtained from mfs_ftp, as you seemed to suggest).

I just removed the NoCSO patch and the results are

1. I can pull shows from the unmodded TivoHD to the modded TivoHD
2. I cannot pull shows from modded TivoHD to unmodded TivoHD that were recorded while the NoCSR patch was in place (plays back as grey screen as expected)
3. I have not tested moving shows recorded on modded TivoHD AFTER patch removed to an unmodded TivoHD (will update this post when I have but confident it will work)
4. It appears you are correct I cannot seem to use mfs_ftp anymore It fails when trying to get the directory listing from the ty directory.

Is there are tweak I can make to mfs_ftp to at least be able to pull off .tivo files??? I am aware I will still need to decode them.

If not I assume now leaves me with

1. Install TTG (I don't want to install this HOG)
2. Use the built in webserver https://the.tivo.ip.address/ with username:tivo and password: MAK
3. Some other 3rd party app that uses step 2

Hmmm decisions decisions...

[tivo4mevo]

Is there are tweak I can make to mfs_ftp to at least be able to pull off .tivo files??? I am aware I will still need to decode them.

Not that I'm aware of, though I thought that mfs_ftp should still be able to pull the (scrambled) shows off. Perhaps others, more knowledgable can comment more.

If not I assume now leaves me with

1. Install TTG (I don't want to install this HOG)
2. Use the built in webserver https://the.tivo.ip.address/ with username:tivo and password: MAK
3. Some other 3rd party app that uses step 2

All three of these options draw videos from tivo's builtin httpd (download) server, aka TTG. TTG requires tivo to remux the S3 native TS to MPEG and also sprinkle in some DRM, which accounts for the TTG's slower download speed (as compared with mfs_ftp).

[jjjones]

How do I remove the NoCSO patch from a 11.0d tvapppatches patched TivoHD?

[ScanMan]

How do I remove the NoCSO patch from a 11.0d tvapppatches patched TivoHD?

I assume it's already been patched. Simply restore your original virgin tivoapp - you did make a backup copy didn't you? Then delete the line(s) from the tvapppatches.tcl for the NoCSO and reapply.

What you didn't save a virgin copy of tivoapp. Well you can get it from the MFS db. Here is a link on how to export the whole root filesystem. Here is another that describes just how to export GZCore which tivoapp is located in.

[jjjones]

Thanks. That's really helpful. I'm a newbie still figuring it all out. I'm only a few days past getting a bash prompt in telnet.

I ftp'ed over to /tvbin and found the file tivoapp with the date of the applied hack and the file tivoapp.foo which was created as a backup when I applied tivoapppatches. So yes, thanks to Mike S, I have a backup of tivoapp.

Maybe I'm off base but is there a way I can undo the NoCSO code using dd at the bash prompt?

From the 11.0d sitting in MFS thread, I found the following "disable enc" code which I believe is the NoCSO hack:

echo -ne "\x10\x00\x00\xaa" | dd conv=notrunc of=tivoapp bs=1 seek=1915412

If I run the above code with 1915412 replaced by some new numbers, it would revert me back to CSO.

It would be great if I could switch CSO on and off. Keep it off generally for networking, but switch to NoCSO for tytool pulls.

[jt1134]

echo -ne "\x10\x00\x00\xaa" | dd conv=notrunc of=tivoapp bs=1 seek=1915412

If I run the above code with 1915412 replaced by some new numbers, it would revert me back to CSO.

yup. 100000aa is the new data. replace it with the original data.

[jjjones]

Thanks. How do I find the original data?

Also, thanks for all your useful posts. Whenever I hit an obstacle, chances were that one of your posts cleared the way.

[jt1134]

from psxboy's post:

0x005d3a14 "104000aa 100000aa"

patch format is : VMA offset "original data | new data"

[jjjones]

To be sure, I would:

echo -ne "\x10\x40\x00\xaa" | dd conv=notrunc of=tivoapp bs=1 seek=1915412

Thanks

[newbie]

It would be great if I could switch CSO on and off. Keep it off generally for networking, but switch to NoCSO for tytool pulls.

Unless something has changed the NoCSO patch prevents newly recorded shows from being encrypted. Turning it off won't let you use a tool like tytools for shows that were recorded prior to the use of the NoCSO patch.

[jjjones]

Unless something has changed the NoCSO patch prevents newly recorded shows from being encrypted. Turning it off won't let you use a tool like tytools for shows that were recorded prior to the use of the NoCSO patch.

True.

I figured that I would turn on NoCSO and use tytool only at times when I was not recording anything for which I would use tytool.

Also if the switch required a reboot, it would be unwieldy.

[pdd]

Unless something has changed the NoCSO patch prevents newly recorded shows from being encrypted. Turning it off won't let you use a tool like tytools for shows that were recorded prior to the use of the NoCSO patch.

Also mfs_ftp no longer works too

However there are plenty of other ways to get the shows off.