Hacking away...

[eastbayguy]

Oh no. EBG bought a book called "TiVo Hacking" or something like that, and has set off on a grand and scary journey. Prepare for frustration and obscenity filled posts. This project is not going to get wrapped up in one night.

 

One of my goals from this is writing files to DVD from the TiVo, via the home network. In order to write DVDs, I need a disc drive with DVD writing capabilities. After shopping around a bit, I found the Plextor PX-708A. Seems to cover all possible bases.

 

Will the Plextor PX-708A be a pain to install in my Dell? I have a Dimension 4300 desktop. Seems like everything ought to be IDE. Is that a sensible expectation? If not, now might be a good time to know...

 

A friend is quite the UNIX wizard, and will give me a hand with the TiVo bits. Meanwhile, before I buy the wrong drive, any thoughts on the PX-708A would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

--EBG

[JamesK840]

Putting a DVD burner in a PC should be pretty easy. If you're replacing a drive be sure to set the jumper (master, slave, cable select) the same as the drive you're replacing.

 

The choice is probably cable select in a Dell, so it'd be the same setting if you're adding it as an additional drive. If it's an additional drive there may be special rails required to mount it, they should be neatly attached inside the case somewhere. (If it's a replacement just use what was on the old drive). Also, be sure to use the finely threaded type of screw (some will come with the drive) not the other, wider-threaded screw used on hard drives and most other places on a PC. BTW, anybody know why the hell CD-Rom and Floppy drive screws are different from the others in the first place?

 

When it comes to the TiVo, some will not use more then 133GB of a disk (so a 120GB drive is the max worth buying) and as I understand it there's no reason to go faster then 5400 RPM. Haven't played with one myself.

[JamesK840]

But it may be best...

 

But if you're concerned about swapping CD drives in a PC you may want to think twice about taking apart a working TiVo. Maybe consider paying somebody who's hacked a TiVo successfully before to do that for you. If you don't know someone maybe Craig's List would be of help.

[+ honcho]

RE: But it may be best...

 

My understanding was that Easbayguy's intention was to install the DVD recorder in a separate PC, and only modify the configuration of the TiVo to allow him to copy the raw program bits over the network.

 

I could imagine several ways of doing this, including exporting the hard drive from the TiVo as a samba share, or merely allowing ssh and scp access to the root account on the TiVo. (Or getting unix services for windows and exporting the TiVo's hard drive via NFS).

 

An interesting question arises about whether one might be techincally be violating the terms of the "Digital Millenium Copyright Act" in which it could be potentially a felony to reverse engineer a device with the intent to violate somebody's copyrights (presumably those of the broadcaster, by getting direct access to the highest quality representation of the show).

 

I don't like the DMCA, and clearly, EastBayGuy's intent here is to save shows for his own viewing rather than selling them for a profit.

 

But mentioning this should be like throwing kerosene on open flames ;-)

[JamesK840]

RE: But it may be best...

 

Yeah, it's two separate projects. Just saying being uncomfortable with the easier one may be good reason for pause on the harder one.

 

Isn't breathing a violation of the DMCA?