Basic phone line for $18... WTF?

[MathWiz579]

Just found out tonight that SBC misrepresents their prices a little online. Online I thought I could get 60 local minutes for $5.95 a month, which would be great for a couple Tivo boxes, however that doesn't include the basic fee to get a dial tone and FCC fees, etc... which pushs that price up to $18 and change a month.

Not worth it for me to spend an extra $18 a month just to have Tivo and have it dial in from my place so I believe that leaves me with two options:

(1) order the Tivo either through DirecTV (and hopefully get the $49 price) or through Best Buy and just install it myself when I find someone with DirecTV and a phone line. Then just take the box to a buddy's house who has a phone line (but having DirecTV for the updates isn't necessary, correct?), and every once in a while have it dial in to get any updates.

(2) Get a couple Tivo boxes that I can either directly connect into my hub or connect to my wireless and do everything that way. This is more difficult obviously but I do have some familiarity with command line stuff so if I have the right instructions I could probably handle it.

Any opinions on these options I would greatly appreciate. I'll search around on Tivocommunity to see what I can find but if anyone offhand has instructions on how to connect the box to the internet (and which box to get), I'd love it if you could point me in the right direction!

[borghe]

it's been quite a while since I've setup an SD Tivo (over two years), but if it is just like the HD Tivo, the phone setup and the guided setup are two different parts. you can complete the guided setup (requiring DirecTV connected) without completing the phone setup. You do need to complete the phone setup though before the Tivo portion will work.

You can turn use the USB ports if you are familiar with linux.. This will require a computer, a USB Ethernet adapter, and sleeper's iso. Connect your Tivo drive and a CD drive to your computer, boot off of the ISO, and monte the Tivo.. This will allow you to hack your Tivo (for legal purposes) and allow you to make the daily call from Ethernet.

Both of my series 1's had this (over TurboNet cards). The only reason I even had the phone line connected was for caller id (another hack you can install on a Tivo).

[MathWiz579]

borghe,

I've actually never run linux before. Could you (if you have time sometime) give some more detailed instructions (or just post a step-by-step guide that is found on the net somewhere). Specifically, what is "sleeper's iso" and what is "monte the tivo"?

Also, should this hacking still be able to work on the new Tivo boxes from DirecTV? Could they have any type of higher protection against this type of hacking?

Thanks a million for the help!

EDIT: I now know what Sleeper's iso is, and have downloaded a copy. I looked a lot at TivoCommunity and the DealDatabase forums, and still have not found a completely idiot-proof explanation of how to do this thing step-by-step.

I think I understand that first I should take the box to a buddy's house with a phone line and force the call a few times to make sure that the box has the latest software. Then I take the box home, open it up and take the hard drive out. After burning a copy of the sleeper's iso onto a CD using Nero, I boot off the CD using the Tivo HD as and my computer's hard drive as . From there I gloss over and have no clue. Pretty bad for a Comp. Sci. major :rolleyes:

[borghe]

there is no guide to sleeper's iso.. it is a guided setup to begin with.. no commands.. you just boot from the CD and navigate the menus.

the only instructions you need is that the hard drives have to be setup in a specific way but you'll have to read to find out (don't remember) I think it is like this (but look for yourself)

Primary Master FAT32 drive
Primary Slave CDROM
Secondary Master Tivo A drive

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28921

If the Tivo is new you would use the monte method.. also you would not restore using your original drive, just backup. if you wanted to go to a bigger a drive though you would backup, change out the Tivo A drive with thhe bigger one (120GB recommended) and then skip backup and go right to restore I think..

anyway, just give it a shot...

[jkane]

The Stand Alone Tivo Series 2 (current model for sale) has USB ethernet built in.  I use it today.  Even have a 802.11b dongle sitting around.  I recently changed over to 802.11a (faster) and replaced the usb adapter I had.

The series 1 needs the modification mentioned already.

A DirectTivo is not a toy I have played with.  I have been told it does NOT support the USB port and they are not going to add the feature until this fall.  I have also been told the software is different, and the work around for the series 1 does not work due to a completely different boot method.

[borghe]

the series 2 DirecTivo is completely hackable.. you can either get your prom modded killing ANY chance of warranty you would ever hope to have but making the unit much easier to hack, or you can use the monte method which leaves your prom intact but is slightly a bigger pain to get working.

either way, the series 2 can have USB activated, can extract video over ethernet, and have all the fun hacks like TivoWeb running on it.. it does have a different software version than the SAs (4.0 on the SA, 3.1 on the DTivo), but that has nothing to do with why the ports are shutdown.. they can be activated just fine with the current software, though DirecTV would rather have you not..

also, if your box ever blows up and you need warranty work on it, as long as you backed up a clean drive image, put back in your original A drive, restore your image back to it, and it's as good as new to be shipped out to Tivo... unless you prom modded it in which case you are screwed...

[jkane]

Good News to hear about the series 2 modifications!  It's been a while since I visited the Tivo Forums.  Mine works and I'm happy now.    I didn't know someone figured out how to do it without rewriting the prom.

Question:  Does the next upgrade by TiVo overwrite your modification, or will it remain intact.  I found it irritating that you would have to re-do the work every few months when TiVo made some minor upgrade or even when you just reboot!

It is bad enough that I have to redo the skip forward remote button modification after every power outage.  If I had to open it up and hook the hard disk to my Linux server I wouldn't find it worth the hassle.  Now if I didn't have the USB support built in the current software, I could see the value in that.  

[borghe]

no, I believe that the software is set to not accept software updates.. the recommended method for installing monte is to first get your DirecTivo to the current software version (currently 3.1c), then installing the monte workaround. I would imagine (not confirmed though) that to upgrade to new software you need to set the unit to allow software updates, keep making the daily call until you see pending restart, power down the unit (just unplug), then reapply the monte "hook" onto the upgraded software. This should allow you to receive the new software and not lose any of your installed programs.

It is most definitely a pain, but it's not like DirecTV sends down these software updates even semi-annually...  IIRC since I received my Tivo in 2001, I have only gone to 2.5, 2.5.2, 3.0, and 3.1. I could be wrong on that though....

[tazman]

I have dabbled in LINUX for about the past 8 years or so.  If you know UNIX, then you will know LINUX like the back of your hand.  If you only know DOS well then, YOUR NOT IN KANSAS any more Dorthy.  LINUX is a UNIX variant written and develuped by Linus Trovalds.  TiVo is based on the LINUX operating system for the most part, hacks for proprietary hardware and some run time libraries.  If you wish to find out more about hacking the TiVo box legaly.  Then check out this site and click on the  "Click to read the TiVo Hacking FAQ "  http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/  .  This site will instruct you as an end user of a TiVo box as to possibly everything and anything that can be done to a TiVo box.

[MathWiz579]

tazman,

Thanks for pointing me to another great resource. I did some UNIX work in college and bet that when the time comes it should come back to me well enough to do what I want to do to that box.

[borghe]

heh.. in hacking a Tivo nowadays there really doesn't require any unix work. with sleeper's iso it is as simple as putting the disc in and following menus.. hacking a series 2 tivo without the iso right now is frankly difficult even for one with unix experience..