# Tivo software replacement



## drew1958 (Jan 21, 2007)

Is it possible to replace Tivo software with different software like Beyond TV??


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## temp357 (Feb 18, 2004)

drew1958 said:


> Is it possible to replace Tivo software with different software like Beyond TV??


No


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

drew1958 said:


> Is it possible to replace Tivo software with different software like Beyond TV??


short of TiVo, Inc. releasing the source code, it's extremely unlikely (tivos contain proprietary chips, and reverse-engineering the protocols, while not impossible, would take a dedicated hacker a LOT of work... not worth it to most, considering)


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

drew1958 said:


> Is it possible to replace Tivo software


In theory, yes. In practise, no, as it is not really possible to write software with what information that is known about the device.


> with different software like Beyond TV??


No, that is PC software that relies on the sheer horsepower of a PC, and availavle PC encoders/decoders to work. A TiVo is not a PC.


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## localtech4hire (Jan 15, 2007)

I will agree but wouldn't it be cool if there was a way?


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## Da Goon (Oct 22, 2006)

localtech4hire said:


> I will agree but wouldn't it be cool if there was a way?


Of course it would. I'm sure somebody has the time and energy to figure it out.
(myself excluded of course)


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## davidjplatt (Aug 27, 2003)

I think the more important question is WHY?

If you want to run Beyond TV (that is a .NET application by the way - Windows) get a PC with a hardware TV tuner and a decent video card. You can put a lot of hard drive space on it and run Beyond TV.

And just look at the hardware requirements of Beyond TV: 

hardware encoding TV Tuner: PC processor at 700MHz and above
software encoding TV Tuner: PC processor at 1.5 GHz and above
256MB of memory

None of the processors in any of the TiVo's come even close to the processing capability of an Intel-Compatible PC processor at 700 MHz let alone 1.5 GHz.

A Series 1 standalone has a PowerPC at 54 MHz with 16MB of RAM. A Series 1 DirecTV unit has a Power PC at 70-80 MHz with 32MB of RAM. The Series 2 has a MIPS processor at 166 Mhz, 242 MHz or 266 Mhz with 32MB or 64MB of RAM.

There is no way any of these boxes can run Beyond TV from a hardware standpoint. Add to that the fact that Beyond TV is a .NET application and you have to have Windows underneath it to host the .NET runtime.

It also is a commercial product and I seriously doubt that Snapstream will release it to open source.


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## cheer (Nov 13, 2005)

Or use mythtv, which is free. And if you just want to do HD OTA, you can use an old PC w/ATSC tuners. Join your local freecycle mailing list -- you'll no doubt see a PC sooner or later that will do the job. For about $80-$100 you could grab four Air2PC cards off eBay, and boom, instant quad-tuner HD DVR. 

As others have pointed out, the Tivo is a very under-powered box for anything software-based. Not much point in replacing the Tivo OS unless the goal is to avoid the monthly service.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

davidjplatt said:


> I think the more important question is WHY?
> 
> If you want to run Beyond TV (that is a .NET application by the way - Windows) get a PC with a hardware TV tuner and a decent video card. You can put a lot of hard drive space on it and run Beyond TV.
> 
> ...


I agree it really is impractical and not worth the effort to do, but I think that most of the hardware requirement for the windows based software solution is really windows requirements. Part of the reason that a tivo can operate using such low powered hardware is because aside from the encoding/decoding (which is pushed of to dedicated hardware) everything else (basically the UI) isn't used all the time and does not require a load of horsepower to run. single function machines don't need a lot. Do away with the need to share the cpu's time with other applications and processes not needed to do the single thing you want to do and the hardware requirement decreases significantly.


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## cheer (Nov 13, 2005)

JWThiers said:


> I agree it really is impractical and not worth the effort to do, but I think that most of the hardware requirement for the windows based software solution is really windows requirements. Part of the reason that a tivo can operate using such low powered hardware is because aside from the encoding/decoding (which is pushed of to dedicated hardware) everything else (basically the UI) isn't used all the time and does not require a load of horsepower to run. single function machines don't need a lot. Do away with the need to share the cpu's time with other applications and processes not needed to do the single thing you want to do and the hardware requirement decreases significantly.


Agreed in principle, but the big thing is really the dedicated MPEG hardware.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

like I said "aside from the encoding/decoding (which is pushed of to dedicated hardware)"


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## infin8007 (Dec 26, 2007)

I have heard of an OS that replaced tivo for hackers.. i recall seeing a link one day.. yet i can't find it now  I have an old single tuner i figured i might play around with..


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