# hacked tivo consequences



## brianmantz (May 25, 2006)

I have a directivo that doesnt allow me to do MRV or HMO and I am thinking about hacking it to get these and of course other features. (I would first install the caller id stuff that just looks too cool)

My problem is that I don't know the consequences. Will directv even care? Will my tivo quit working every few months until I find what someone else did to fix it and then install that? 

I gather that part of the hack is to disable future upgrades from directv or tivo or whoever does them, but does that mean they will do things that require the upgrades and make hacked ones require babysitting to get them working?

I ask these questions becuase I am perfectly capabale of hacking it but do not want to spend a ton of time upkeeping it. And as everyone here can understand I certainly can't live without a working Tivo!

Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. How much or little time you spend maybe, or get on your soap box and give me a piece of your mind.


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## Yog-Sothoth (Jun 14, 2005)

Leased unit or not, don't do any hacking on the TiVo's original hard disk; remove it and store it somewhere. If you have to return the unit, just put it back in.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

brianmantz said:


> I have a directivo that doesnt allow me to do MRV or HMO and I am thinking about hacking it to get these and of course other features. (I would first install the caller id stuff that just looks too cool)
> 
> My problem is that I don't know the consequences. Will directv even care? Will my tivo quit working every few months until I find what someone else did to fix it and then install that?
> 
> ...


As YOG points out keep the original drive clean of any hacks so you can reinstall it if needed. 
Bear in mind that Tivo hacking should be considered a DIY hobby. Meaning once you start you will always tinker with it. And setting up the network can be trying. As far as future upgrades go the only OS upgrade that I think MAY happen for the DTivos is getting 6.2 on the HR-250 (unless they ditch the R-15's and go back to tivo). So it shouldn't matter anyway. As for upkeep, Once you get the system dialed in to do what you want there is very little if any upkeep It took me about a month (working on and off and researching problems etc) to tweak everything just so and to fix the minor issues that crop up from your tweaking. Since then I can't think of anything that has taken more time than a restart. By and large most of my issues in one way or another were network issues, either connecting to or how a hack deals with or interacts with.


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## cheer (Nov 13, 2005)

brianmantz said:


> I gather that part of the hack is to disable future upgrades from directv or tivo or whoever does them, but does that mean they will do things that require the upgrades and make hacked ones require babysitting to get them working?


It's possible. I don't know that they would do anything that _requires_ the upgrade -- heck, 3.x on a S2 DTivo still works just fine.

But it's important to disable upgrades, because otherwise an auto-upgrade would wipe your hacks out. This way, yes, you may have to babysit the box a bit to get the upgrade to install, but you can do it in a controlled fashion once you know whether it's easily hackable, etc.

DTivos get their software updates via satellite. The "slices" (files which contain the components of the OS) will download and store themselves; the box just won't implement the OS.

The DTivos have an install script already on the box. Reading through it it seems to be used mainly for an emergency install, but a couple of simple edits make it manually usable by us. You can run the script but have it halt before rebooting. At this point (still having telnet access) you can migrate your hacks to the new partitions, get everything set up, and then reboot the box. Box boots up, new OS, already hacked.  I've done this many times and it's really not hard at all.


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## Markman07 (Jul 18, 2001)

Of course you can use your orginal drive as long as you understand that it will cost you $20 to buy a new image if you mess it up doing the hacks. (not including the images found elsewhere that aren't guaranteed).


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## brianmantz (May 25, 2006)

Thanks for all the input

I got an interesting reply from DirecTV to the same question I asked here:

My Question:
_There are many people that have gone to the trouble of figuring out how to
get the multi-room viewing (MRV) and home media options (HMO) to work not
only on a standalone tivo but on a directivo as well. These are referred to
as hacked tivos I think.

Obviously the hardware warrantee is voided if I crack it open and start
messing around. If I am willing to forego the warrantee is this something
that I can do? Specifically load software on the directivo that allows for
MRV and HMO just like my standalone unit?

Or will my service be cancelled? Please note I will still be signed up and
paying for the tivo service, I just want my other tivo features to be
useful. Its hard to have multiroom viewing when the other tivo won't play
nice. And its frustrating that you won't let it when indeed it is already
there ready to add. Are you doing your own version born from greed so you
can charge more for it by chance? _

Their Response:
*Thank you for writing back. I'm sorry that you are unhappy with your DVR. We do not recommend modifying your equipment in any way, as this will void any warranty. However, this will not result in the cancellation of your service.

We're always looking for ways to enhance our services, and customer feedback is very important to us. I have forwarded your comments on to DIRECTV Management. *

So the verdict is in I will hack this sucker after some research into the best way.


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## kramerboy (Jul 13, 2001)

brianmantz said:


> Thanks for all the input
> 
> I got an interesting reply from DirecTV to the same question I asked here:
> 
> ...


Dude!!!! 

The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is you *DO NOT* talk about Fight Club


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## BTUx9 (Nov 13, 2003)

Right, because this is such a well-kept secret that tivo, inc. and directv have NO CLUE that people are hacking these boxes.

Well, maybe they have an INKLING

Be that as it may, I find it VERY interesting: an official response from directv stating that modifying equipment won't result in service cancellation... doesn't sound like the company line to me, but who knows...

Of course, having gone thru their tech support a few times, I'm fully aware that they are fanatic practitioners of "don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" so I wouldn't give the response THAT much credence.


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## cheer (Nov 13, 2005)

Agreed with BTUx9. We've seen plenty of examples of this (6.2 on the HR10-250, anybody?). You might as well ask the cat.


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## MurrayW (Aug 28, 2005)

brianmantz said:


> Thanks for all the input
> 
> I got an interesting reply from DirecTV to the same question I asked here:
> 
> ...


So you thought hundreds of posters in this forum who have hacked their boxes had their service disconnected and were not telling anyone so that others like you would have your service disconnected? I don't know what answer you were expecting to get from DirecTV that wasn't already clearly obvious. I am not trying to be a wiseass, but I am just wondering what you hoped to accomplish by this email other than maybe getting them to put a note in your file that you were going to hack your DTiVo and give them an excuse to not help you in the future if you have problems?


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