Does Anyone Know TiVo?

[MikeRivers]

I rescued a TiVo recorder from someone's recycling pile this weekend. I was curious to see whether I could use it as a straightforward video recorder to replace my VHS deck. I figured that if I couldn't get it working, I could salvage the hard drive and put it in MY recycling pile. It's a "first generation" TiVo, a Sony SVR-2000.

 

Anyway, despite my very provincial TV setup (no cable, no satellite, but I do have a digital converter for my 25 year old Zenith TV) I was able to record and play broadcast video so it'll probably stay. But there's one problem. It has an internal clock/calendar and can be set (like a VCR) to start and stop recording at a specific time. The only problem is that the clock is about 13 minutes fast, and I can't find a menu that allows me to set it.

 

I know that for TiVo to work like TiVo, it calls home once a day to get program updates, software updates, and no doubt tells some market researcher what I've been watching and what I want to watch. I'm not about to subscribe to the service so it isn't going to get its daily phone call. It's apparently been disconnected for several months.

 

So I'm wondering if the only way it knows what time it is is to phone home. I was hoping that maybe it would pick up time from an off-the-air video signal, but that hasn't happened yet. It's really designed to go with a cable or satellite set-top box so its RF input is limited to channels 2, 3, and 4. If there was any time-of-day data coming along with the broadcast video, maybe it gets stripped off by the digital converter. My VCR, which is supposed to be able to pick up time from the broadcast signal never has, even before I had the digital converter in line.

 

Other than video, and a phone jack, there are no connections to the outside world - no USB, no Ethernet, no RS-232, so there's no chance of talking to it with a computer.

 

Anyone know about the inner workings of these things? I know I can, as long as I remember, set the recording to start 15 minutes ahead of when the program starts so that it will start at roughly the correct time, but it would be nice to have a clock that tells the correct time if possible

[Rabid]

As far as I know the only way to set time is when the Tivo connects to the system. When I started using Tivo you could cancel the service and continue to use it as a manually programmed recorder. A while back they changed the service agreement so that you have to have a subscription to record with Tivo. Because of that I would guess that you would be taking a chance if you let it dial in to Tivo and get the time.

[yermej]

Is there an 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo jack on the back? If so, that's a serial port. You can wire up an 1/8" to RS-232 cable, get a BASH shell, and set the clock.

 

serial cable details

clock setting details

[MikeRivers]

 

Is there an 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo jack on the back? If so, that's a serial port. You can wire up an 1/8" to RS-232 cable, get a BASH shell, and set the clock.

 

I had a feeling that hackers would get into these things sooner or later. This looks like it will be a fun project. Thanks much for the links.

 

There is indeed a 1/8" jack on the back labeled Control Out Serial that apparently is normally used for sending channel commands to the cable or satellite box. I'll get on it.

[MikeRivers]

As a near-term follow-up, I did connect a computer to the TiVo via the serial port per the instructions in the links that yermej provided. I was able to bring up the basic "debug" menu, but not the command shell.

 

According to links from the links, it should be there, but it's not. A little further investigation suggests (but not confirmed) that the shell comes up only if you modify an initialization file on the TiVo's disk drive. This involves removing it from the recorder and editing it in another computer.

 

In addition to the "setting the clock" instructions that I was looking for (that's a command in the shell), there was a link to instructions for modifying a boot-up command (something which could be done from the debug menu) so that it doesn't expect a daily phone call. That didn't work either.

 

So while I've learned a bit about the TiVo and have a new tool I can use with it, I still haven't been able to change what I had hoped to change. There are all sorts of articles on the web and private-published books for sale describing modifications to the TiVo, but like many web articles, expect a certain level of knowledge that I don't have yet.

 

I'll continue to look around for better or more complete info, but since this isn't a high priority thing with me (nor is it with other TiVo owners, since this is a 1st generation unit and they're busy modifying their 3rd generation units already), information flow is slow and spotty, and the original informants have forgotten what they once knew. It's a lot like asking a question about 10 year old audio hardware or software.