Hacking TiVo

Writing software, you can write some really interesting tools, but you only really appreciate them when at a computer of some kind (or a web browser, or palmpilot, etc). For me, the coolest thing about hacking the TiVo is the idea that the fruits of my efforts can affect something else I use all the time - my TV. Add to that the fact that the TiVo runs linux, and this clearly becomes something fun to hack (if you're into that kind of thing).
My TiVo's circuit board

Shameless self-promotion
 
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My TiVo Downloads

First of all, there are a few definitive links that must be stated up-front. First is the TiVo Hack FAQ. Second is the TiVo Underground forum, where all the TiVo hackers post about hacks, new releases, etc (I'm jkeegan there). TiVo employees monitor this forum and post from time to time. Read the Hack FAQ before posting any questions, and try searching the forum first too, but it's a very important resource and source of news. I track some of the threads from the forum here.

My most recent (and so far best) aggregate tivo hacking story is here on AVSForum:
     My killer-app tivo/tivoweb/palmpilot story

There are many hacks that have already been done for the TiVo, and there will be many more. Here are a bunch, and some pointers on how to apply them yourself. Note that all of these involve voiding your warrantee and I take no responsibility for mentioning any of these activities to you if something goes wrong.

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One of the most fundamental hacks is increasing tivo's storage. Turn a 14-hour TiVo into a 120-hour TiVo with a $160 80-gig drive.
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Since the TiVo runs linux, you can use the serial line on the back of the TiVo to log on to your TiVo and get a bash prompt.
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After having a bash prompt for a while, you'll be irritated that you have to use a terminal program to connect. To be able to telnet into your TiVo, you need either to run pppd over the serial line, or buy/build a TiVoNet adapter for ethernet.
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One of the next coolest hacks was putting a web server in the TiVo, and then duplicating portions of the TiVo's user interface on a web page. I've written two modules so far - mail and logs
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Slightly shunned by portions of the tivo hacking community, a tool called ExtractStream lets you pull video off of the TiVo's hard drive, and stream it to another PC for playing or burning to VideoCD.
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A few tools were written to deal with the closed caption text stored on the TiVo.
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Various tools have been written to generate OSD files, which are images that can be displayed on the TiVo's screen with a tivo program called osdwriter.
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There are many other hacks that have been done for the TiVo that I haven't tried yet. Here's a bunch of links to where to get info on them.

My TiVo Downloads
Jeff & Laurie's Page