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- Hacking the Tivo
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A popular project for somewhat technically savy Tivo owners is to
modify or "hack" their Tivo. Tivo hacking is not about getting
something for free, rather it is about modifying their Tivo and
customizing it to their needs. A Tivo hard drive upgrade is just
one example of tivo hacking.
There are a great abundance of hacking tools and
utilities that you can use to add new functionality to your Tivo,
including allowing it to download programming information via
your high speed Internet connection instead of tying up your
phone line and much more.
Setting aside all of its bells and whistles, a Tivo is
essentially a computer running a modified Linux operating system.
All programs and user options are stored on a standard computer
hard drive. Some Tivo hacks can be done with just a
little knowledge of the Linux operating system. some other
modifications however require a better understanding.
Some of the more popular utilities are outlined as
follows;
2.5Xtreme Hack
2.5Xtreme is one of the more popular hacks for the Directv with Tivo.
It is a modified version of the original Directv with Tivo 2.5 software
revision. 2.5Xtreme was developed by an individual known as
Surgeon in 2001. It adds a number of features including enabling
Directv with Tivo dual tuner support, upgrading the size of your
Directv with Tivo hard drives, installation of bash utilities and more.
Installation of 2.5Xtreme is fairly straight forward, it comes in
an ISO image format which you burn to a CD as an image and then
boot your computer from the CD and follow the prompts. You can
use 2.5Xtreme on your existing hard drives or write it to a new
larger hard drive with additional storage capacity. 2.5Xtreme
will also allow you to add a second hard drive to your Directv with Tivo
without the need to use seperate utilities.
Superzaps 2.5.2/3.1 Tivo Hack
One of the drawbacks of the original 2.5Xtreme software
revision is that it no longer allows local channels to be viewed
on the Directv with Tivo. However once you have 2.5Xtreme installed on
your Directv with Tivo and have it working, you can then proceed to
upgrade it to 2.5.2 or 3.1 which will enable your local channels
in addition to installing an additional number of utilities to
help you get the most out of your Directv with Tivo. Superzaps 2.5.2/3.1
upgrade is also an ISO image that is burned to a CD and then
booted to. Unlike 2.5Xtreme, Superzaps upgrade is not a complete
operating system, so you need to have Tivo version 2.0, 2.5 or
2.5Xtreme already installed before you can proceed to upgrade to
either 2.5.2 or 3.1. The Superzap utility package built into the
2.5.2/3.1 upgrade is called XPlusz. It installs many of the more
popular add-ons and utilities and allows your to turn the
individual utilities on/off using your Directv with Tivo remote
control.
Kraven 2.5 Upgrade/3.1 Tivolater Hack
The Kraven upgrade is another modified Directv with Tivo software
revision with added utilities. It is similar to the Superzap
upgrade, but it incorporates different utilities and uses a
different method to activate them. There are two seperate
releases, one will upgrade your 2.5Xtreme with the added Kraven
utilities and the other will upgrade you to software revision
3.1.
Turbonet Hack
Turbonet is a special add-on Tivo Ethernet card that allows
your Tivo to utilize a high speed Internet connection instead of
a tying up your phone line for the calls to Tivo. Driver for the
Turbonet card are included in Superzaps 2.5.2/3.1 upgrade or 3.1
Tivolater
Tivoweb Hack
Tivoweb is an add-on module for your Tivo that allows you to
communicate with the via a Internet browser. With Tivoweb you can
program and operate your Tivo remotely over the Internet and
more.
Tytool & Tystudio Hack
Tytool and Tystudio are utilities designed to extract programs
from your Tivo and save them to your computer.
Bash Prompt Hack
Bash Utilities are installed with 2.5Xtreme. A bash prompt
allows you to communicate with your Tivo, it is a Linux prompt
similar to a Windows DOS prompt. A bash prompt will allow you to
transfer files and make internal changes to your Tivo.
TivoFTP Hack
The Tivo FTP utilities will allow you to easily transfer files
to and from your Tivo. This is very handy when installing add-ons
and various modules.
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08/04/2008 11:20 AM
In order to give the website a better focus, we are phasing out the less popular areas of the site, including the high definition and digital video recorder areas and forums. This will leave the site focused on digital satellite television and satellite radio.
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Hairspray
HBOE
6:00 pm ET
It started as a John Waters-directed movie, then transitioned into a hit stage musical. Now it comes full circle by taking movie form again in its more tuneful incarnation. The entertaining tale lets John Travolta make an amusing gender switch as Edna Turnblad, mother of aspiring 1960s dance-show participant Tracy (newcomer Nikki Blonsky). Others (Michelle Pfeiffer, Brittany Snow) don't want plus-sized Tracy to have a spotlight.
Journey to the Center of the Earth
MAX
6:50 pm ET
A science professor and volcanologist and his nephew encounter strange creatures and stranger lands as they travel beneath the Earth's surface. Professor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) is supposed to care for his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) for 10 days. Instead it seems more like 100 million years, as they plummet through the Earth's layers and encounter bad-tempered dinosaurs.
House
FOX
8:00 pm ET
Now here's a patient House (Hugh Laurie) can relate to. In this episode, he and his team try to figure out what's wrong with a man suffering from chronic pain -- something House has lived with for years. Foreman and Thirteen (Omar Epps, Olivia Wilde) deal with their budding relationship, and Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) gets a lesson in juggling work and parenthood in "Painless."
Santa Who?
ABCF
7:00 pm ET
So if he doesn't know who he is, can we call him Shirley? Leslie Nielsen stars as Santa Claus in this limp 2000 comic variation on the "Miracle on 34th Street" theme. Like the Kriss Kringle of "Miracle," he's a store Santa who's actually the genuine article. But unlike the 1947 Kringle, who knew he was real even if nobody else did, this Claus is clueless, thanks to a fall from his sleigh that left him with amnesia. He'd better snap out of it soon, or there'll be a lot of disappointed kiddies on Christmas morning.
NBA Basketball
ESPN
8:00 pm ET
A rematch of last season's Eastern Conference semifinals is on tap in Boston as Kevin Garnett and the Celtics host Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. The Magic got the better of the Celts when they met in May, winning in seven games, but that was with the now-departed Hedo Turkoglu getting the shots in key moments. For the Celts, the big question is if Garnett is his old self after last year's knee woes, but Rasheed Wallace's presence should help.
Smallville
CW
8:00 pm ET
Tess (Cassidy Freeman) kidnaps Lois (Erica Durance), determined to find out where she went when she disappeared for weeks. Chloe (Allison Mack) forms a resistance group with Oliver (Justin Hartley), while Clark (Tom Welling) makes a significant decision about Zod (Callum Blue) after learning of Lois' memory of the future in the new episode "Pandora."
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
ABCF
9:00 pm ET
OK, some Christmas specials and movies based on songs of the season are adorable -- lookin' at you, "Rudolph," "Frosty," "Little Drummer Boy." Others, like this 2001 comedy, are just laughable, and not in a good way. A little boy sees his mom in a lip lock with a certain red-suited gent and assumes his folks are splitting up. Wouldn't most kids jump at the chance to have Santa for a stepdad? Good thing Connie Sellecca has some good Christmas movies on her resume, so she can be forgiven for this one.
Medium
CBS
9:00 pm ET
When Allison's (Patricia Arquette) eyes develop a sensitivity to light, the sunglasses she dons display numbers that may be linked to the life expectancy of those she looks at. Life expectancy also is on the mind of Joe (Jake Weber), who starts taking better care of himself after Allison dreams about his father in the new episode "The Future's So Bright." Miguel Sandoval, Sofia Vassilieva, Maria Lark and David Cubitt also star.
Platinum Babies
WE
9:00 pm ET
The new episode "Betsy & Brad" features a doting Southern California husband who is only too happy to indulge his wife's dream of a baby shower in the form of a $20,000 tea party, complete with $5,000 in baby props, accompanied by harp and violin music. And the free spending continues as they select a state-of-the-art birthing suite, where their daughter is born, captured by a $31,000 baby photographer, as well as hiring a pricey "baby-proofer to the stars."
NUMB3RS
CBS
10:00 pm ET
When robbers strike a diamond exchange and take hostages, Don (Rob Morrow) and his team think the culprits are copying a convict's criminal strategies, and they find an unlikely ally in convicted bus hijacker John Buckley (Fisher Stevens, reprising his guest role). David Krumholtz, Judd Hirsch and Alimi Ballard also star in the new episode "Con Job."
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