For a long time now I've been threatening to build a HTPC but have yet to start. Why? Simple...I have a TiVo. Not only is a TiVo much cheaper than a HTPC, it is very easy to modify if you are geek prone. After all a TiVo runs on Linux.

There are a ton of hacks for TiVo boxes, from a simple back door to reprogram the remote to skip commercials rather than having to fast forward through them to ways to use your TiVo as a web server. A lot of what started as hacking, is now built into the TiVo software itself, such as networking, movie transfers to your PC, music/photo sharing and more. And TiVo itself certainly doesn't discourage this modifying of its product beyond the typical "Void your warranty" schtick. There is even an underground section in the TiVo forums.

In short, I love my TiVo. I wouldn't know how to watch TV without it. So when my TiVo started showing a pixelated image more and more frequently, sometimes pausing both picture and sound...I was bummed. A quick search of the TiVo forums confirmed my suspisions. My hard drive was dying. Unwilling to give up on my old friend and far too cheap to cough up the cash for a new TiVo and Lifetime service contract, I googled.

I quickly learned Hinsdale's Upgrade How-to was the definitive guide for upgrading a TiVo or in my case, saving my TiVo. I read every word, my friends life and well being depended on it. Then I hit the forums and read some more and realized Hinsdale's guide, good as it was, was a bit dated. Hinsdale has firmly stated a TiVo such as mine would only support up to 137 GB. But as I learned, the Series 2 with software rev. 7.X or later could run HUGE drives. I could drop in a 750 GB drive and record 750 hours!!!

Checking my wallet, I quickly dropped the 750 GB idea and picked up a nice 120 GB Seagate drive on sale for $50 bucks at BestBuy. I can always drop in a second drive at a later time.

What you'll need:

A new hard drive at least as big as the old one.
Torx screwdrivers a T-10 and a T-15
A PC either running 98 or Me or a FAT32 partition on your XP machine. Booting into XP with a TiVo drive attached can hose your TiVo drive.
A copy of mfs tools. I opted for WeaKnees version and used their online guide. I highly recommend it.

I swapped out my XP disc in my test rig with a old 20 gig drive with Me on it and booted up with the Weaknees iso I had burned to cd. And followed the guide. About an hour later I have a heathy TiVo that doesn't stutter or pixelate and a extra 47 hours of recording time.

Now that's a hack well worth the time.

This should go into the modding how-to's maybe. That's pretty sweet. I'd like a Tivo, but an htpc pc is probably more practical for me...i'd rather have my tv recorded onto a hdd connected to my comp. Nice job dude.

I must spread around before giving it to AntiM, so FINALLY the Tivo geeks of PCA come out !!!!!

Heres an old linky

Quote: Originally Posted by silvafish This should go into the modding how-to's maybe. That's pretty sweet. I'd like a Tivo, but an htpc pc is probably more practical for me...i'd rather have my tv recorded onto a hdd connected to my comp. Nice job dude.

Well you could always do what I do, just transfer your recordings to your PC. Using TiVoToGo you can share recordings between TiVo's, transfer to laptops and other portable devices or burn to DVD. You can also move it back to your TiVo from your PC. I use a wireless connection so I can't stream movies over the network, you have to give it time to transfer a good chunk before you start watching. Music though plays perfectly over the network in real time. All my mp3 reside on my PC, but you can browse and play them from the TiVo, you can even publish playlists the TiVo understands.


A TiVo or other branded DVR does offer a couple of advantages over a PC when watching TV. One is noise, a TiVo has one 70mm (I think, it's smaller than an 80) fan and it's quiet. The other is power consumption, a Series 2 like mine has a 37 W power supply. Since it is constantly running, it's going to draw much less power than a HTPC. Weaknees sells a power delay it you decide to add a second drive and don't want to over tax the power supply on start up...pretty slick.

Here's another favorite TiVo hack of mine: Direct Show Dump. If your TiVo doesn't have a built in DVD recorder and you're transfering to you PC in order to burn your recording to disc, Direct Show Dump can save you some cash on software. TiVo's format is basically mpeg, but they add a tag at the beginning and end to make it proprietary. Normally you'd need to purchase Sonic Soft's MyDVD software to record TiVo content. But by using the free utility Direct Show Dump you can convert the TiVo recordings to a standard Mpeg format and record with your existing software.

Anybody else have any cool TiVo hackage?