# Series 2 / Hosting Music



## 45acp (Feb 8, 2009)

I have a series 2 Tivo, that I'm not using. I currently don't have service. Its just been on the shelf collecting dust in the box, and I was thinking of getting rid of it until I looked at the manual and realized it could be used to host music from your computer to the TV.

Now that feature I could use, but it doesn't seem worth 13 bucks a month to do something I could simply do by connecting an old desktop computer to my LG LCD HDTV.

Is there a way I can host the music from one of my network PC's without subscribing to the Tivo service? That's really the only feature I want at this point. I don't care about recording TV programs or any of that. It looks like the Tivo Desktop will only work with a subscription.

I did download pyTivo, and so far it looks good, but I don't know if I'm just spinning my wheels or not without paying for the Tivo subscription service. I paid like 300 some bucks a few years ago for the Tivo box I think, so I wouldn't mind getting some use out of it... but if not I'd be happy to pass it along for a few dollars to someone who could use the service. I'm getting Verizon FiOs and plan to use their DVR (I know it might not be as slick as Tivo, but I'll find out soon enough. I've been suffering with this crappy Time Warner DVR for a couple of years now). Since this Tivo isn't even HD capable I figured the music hosting through my TV would be a sweet way to get some use out of it if I could. Any help is appreciated.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Correct - without an active sub it's just a doorstop.


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## 45acp (Feb 8, 2009)

Thanks. That's what I was beginning to think from the little research I've done.

It might be worth it to pay for the service to do what I want, but not sure yet since I won't be using it to record TV at all.

I'm just curious. Is it possible to blow the Tivo build away and load it with a Linux kernel with a simple media player for MP3's, and operate it with the remote?

If so I figured it could be a fun project. From what I've read it sounds like the Tivo hardware and drivers and all that are pretty tightly restricted to the Tivo OS Kernel, but all I want is video, audio, NIC and remote control. I don't care about the tuners for TV or any of that. I just want to be able to use it as a music server on my home network that plays through my TV if possible.


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## djl25 (May 26, 2005)

There are instructions on the other forum for installing Debian on a series 2 Directivo; I imagine a standalone would work also. It's at /forum/showthread.php?t=20662. There's also a version of Madplay that was compiled for series 1 tivos, so a mips version should be possible. Finally, trickeyplus lets you assign commands to the remote.

In case you hadn't gathered, it would be a ton of work. I don't think it's impossible, but I'm not aware of anyone running a setup like that either.



45acp said:


> I'm just curious. Is it possible to blow the Tivo build away and load it with a Linux kernel with a simple media player for MP3's, and operate it with the remote?


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

The issue is the audio/video. It's on a proprietary chip, and without the tivo s/w, I don't know if anybody has been able to make it do much.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Yeah, without the TiVo software, you can use it as a server, but I don't think you can talk to the TV or the remote.


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## djl25 (May 26, 2005)

True enough. It'd be a fairly slow server too.
Back to doorstop...


wmcbrine said:


> Yeah, without the TiVo software, you can use it as a server, but I don't think you can talk to the TV or the remote.


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## 45acp (Feb 8, 2009)

Thanks everyone. Could be fun to try hacking it and getting the audio video working. Worst case I can always make a backup of the drive and then take the risk of totally hosing it and still have peace of mind that I can restore it back to factory defaults so it can still be of use to someone else.

So if I'm understanding correctly the audio video is both powered on a proprietary chip and the drivers may be a real pain to get working?

I'm kicking myself now because I just got rid of an old Series 1 that the power supply went out on. That probably would have been easier to get running with what I want if I had added a NIC into it.


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

I'm fairly sure you CAN do what you wanted. A TiVo with no sub still lets you play back previously recorded items. You can use MFS_FTP to put recorded items into the unit. You don't need guide data. You don't need to sync the clock.

Sounds like it could work to me.


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## 45acp (Feb 8, 2009)

That'd be nice if I could either just push data to the Tivo and then it'd let me play it from there, or if I could get it to see my network share of MP3's somehow and use the Tivo to play them that would be golden since the darn thing has all the goodies I want built in. I just don't want to pay the subscription to play my own music! I paid for the box and I'm not using its cool TV recording abilities!

So far, I've used pyTivo to try and share Music. I setup a folder, but I definitely don't see a Music and Photos option anywhere in any of the menus on the Tivo. I've also tried to transfer some .MOV files to the video folder since that appeared to be a bit more straight foward in pyTivo and that fails with the following error:

No option 'tivo_username' in section: 'Server'

I think I Googled that and someone mentioned the username its looking for or should be using is the e-mail address that corresponds with your Tivo subscription account. I'm not clear on how pyTivo is trying to negotiate with a username with the Tivo since I don't see anywhere to configure it in the pyTivo Web Config, but I might have missed it. Perhaps that error is just the Tivo telling pyTivo "Go away, this Tivo has no active subscription!". 

So is there a way to FTP data to the Tivo? If so can someone point me to a FAQ or site that describes how to get that going?


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

PyTivo relies on a portion of the TiVo that requires service.
MFS_FTP should work without the sub.
Use google to find the other most popular TiVo discussion site and read a lot before posting a question.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

buying a barebones PC and putting mythTV on it would be cheaper and indeed easier.


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

Another issue that hasn't been brought up, yet: depending on what Series 2 box you have, there may not be a software-only hack available for it (publicly). It may require a prom mod, which would make the project that much more difficult.


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