# They call this the underground?!



## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

I understand and respect that tivo needs you to pay them in order to exist. I also understand that hacking a tivo to get free guide data would cause tivo to take measures to ban hacking of it's DVRs.

I have recently run into some difficult financial times and can not afford to pay $20 a month for guide data. I am NOT seeking information on how to steal/circumvent this.

I am seeking information on how to I can hack my tivo to manually program it to record a show at time x. It is in door stop mode right now. It will be annoying to have to manually program it to record my shows and I plan to resume paying for guide data as soon as I can afford it. I do feel entitled to use the DVR without guide data because I did pay tivo $100 for the pcb, hard drive and UI. Thanks.

The door stop is a series2 which I have upgraded to 133 hours.


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## SullyND (Dec 30, 2004)

You're not paying TiVo $20 for guide data. What you are describing is theft of service and is not discussed here.


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## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

What would I be stealing?


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## Martin Tupper (Dec 18, 2003)

The use of equipment that requires a subscription fee to function.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

S2 Tivos can only record if they receive guide data. This requires a monthly fee for the Tivo service. It's what helps keep Tivo Inc. in business. If you want to use a Tivo as a manual DVR without guide data then you might want to consider getting an older series 1 standalone model. They are the only Tivos available that will allow manual recording with no guide data or monthly fees.


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## PortlandPaw (Jan 11, 2004)

"Underground" doesn't mean "illegal." It means doing stuff that mere mortals are not capable (or interested) in doing.


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## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

So the EULA imposes a monthly charge that allows legal use of the DVR. This puts me in a tight spot. Because I 'canceled' early tivo is going to want $200 if I want guide data again. Because I can build an x86 DVR for less than $200 I now have a $100 boat anchor. Is there any way to legally recover my losses.


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## Martin Tupper (Dec 18, 2003)

Why not sell it on eBay?


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## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

Will the person I sell it to via eBay give me bad feedback when they discover the account for that tivo was canceled early and they need to pay $200.


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## ForrestB (Apr 8, 2004)

There are more important things in life than Tivo/TV - though some users on this forum may disagree.


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## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

i wish I had something more important in life


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Actually you paid $100 *and made a monthly commitment* similar to buying a subsidized cell phone. Even without the commitment use of the tivo software requires paying the monthly (or lifetime) fee. The original tivo materials weren't clear and those customers are able to use their units in manual mode but tivo has since revised the agreements and marketing materials to remove the ambiguity.

You might call tivo. Tell them you're having financial difficulties and ask if you can return your unit to them, in exchange for reducing your obligation, or if you can suspend service for a limited period of time.



navecko said:


> I did pay tivo $100 for the pcb, hard drive and UI. Thanks.
> 
> The door stop is a series2 which I have upgraded to 133 hours.


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## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

I just checked on the tivo site and they are currently offering four models; the cheapest one free with service plan. Tivo must have a record of my name and address so they ensure I pay up before getting a free one. Is that record linked to my name or the DVR or both?

Do I actually own my DVR or is it 'rented'? If it is rented then it would seem that any hacking of it would be illegal.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

There is no forum that would counsel somebody to "steal" the Tivo service, which you need to record. And if there were, it couldn't be named or linked from here.


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## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

Well if the record is only linked to my name then I can still sell the dvr on eBay like Martin Tupper suggested a few posts above. But it probably wouldn't sell b/c tivo is now giving them away free with contract. I just want to thank those people who tried to help me as I feel this thread is going to be locked soon.


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## bobbyt (Nov 4, 2006)

PortlandPaw said:


> "Underground" doesn't mean "illegal." It means doing stuff that mere mortals are not capable (or interested) in doing.


It means thinking 'inside' the box...


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## navecko (Nov 13, 2006)

I went deeper underground* and got outside the box. Its not worth the time or hassle if you have something important in life. The DVR is linked to a 'record' and that record includes your name, addy, cc# etc.

*There's too much panic in this town.


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## sk33t3r (Jul 9, 2003)

navecko said:


> Will the person I sell it to via eBay give me bad feedback when they discover the account for that tivo was canceled early and they need to pay $200.


Id give you bad feed back if you did this to me, and directv isnt going to activate this unit until the balance is paid.


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## madmunki (Aug 9, 2005)

Some TiVo's offer TiVo BASIC, check out the Toshiba TX-20 and SD-H400. I don't play a monthly service fee, and I get plenty of features, including Guide.


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## Royce (Nov 28, 2006)

Call me unethecial or what have you, but I'm all for some illegal 'underground' discussion of the sort. 

This damn country is going to crap, since when did everyone become such conservative aholes that TALKING about something illegal is considered illegal? It's like robbing a bank, I can plan as much of the job as I want to, it only becomes a crime when I steal the getaway car. Just because someone like me is interested in hearing about 'free' TiVo service doesn't mean I'd take advantage of it.


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## JWThiers (Apr 13, 2005)

I agree with you in the sense that you are free to discuss whatever you like, but when you do it in someone else's house the owner is free ask you to stop. The owner of this site has a rule that prohibits talk about extraction. If you want to start a forum that allows extraction discussion more power to ya. When you have to pay the fines that could rersult from violating the law (The DMCA prohibits diseminating information that can be used to circumvent copy protection) you might think different. But hey, his house, his rules. Your house, your rules.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

Tivo used to host these forums on their servers. I believe tivo still pays some of the cost of running these boards.

Makes sense that the owner of this board doesn't allos discussions on how to steal tivo services.

It also makes sense that the owner of the board isn't interested in paying an attorney to litigate the issue of DMCA vs first amendments rights.

Many internet boards limit discussions. Boards that don't have limits get filled with advertising spam posts and political discussions.

The solution is easy, find a board that permits discussion for the topics you're interested in, start you're own forum or post in a place like Usenet that doesn't have any rules.



Royce said:


> Call me unethecial or what have you, but I'm all for some illegal 'underground' discussion of the sort.
> 
> This damn country is going to crap, since when did everyone become such conservative aholes that TALKING about something illegal is considered illegal? It's like robbing a bank, I can plan as much of the job as I want to, it only becomes a crime when I steal the getaway car. Just because someone like me is interested in hearing about 'free' TiVo service doesn't mean I'd take advantage of it.


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## sk33t3r (Jul 9, 2003)

Royce said:


> Call me unethecial or what have you, but I'm all for some illegal 'underground' discussion of the sort.
> 
> This damn country is going to crap, since when did everyone become such conservative aholes that TALKING about something illegal is considered illegal? It's like robbing a bank, I can plan as much of the job as I want to, it only becomes a crime when I steal the getaway car. Just because someone like me is interested in hearing about 'free' TiVo service doesn't mean I'd take advantage of it.


This country isnt going to crap it is crap. But I used to be part of a forum that would discuss D** stuff and then they got sued by D** and the site was no more, so keep that in mind when discussing off topic things here.


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