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Television Businesses Media Apple

TiVo Video Extraction with Mac OS X 59

Posted by pudge from the extract-me-with-the-network-of-love dept.
Arf4 writes "I recently published an article that describes extracting video from a TiVo Series 1 digital video recorder. I have been searching the boards for info on a Mac OS X solution, but came up blank. After experimenting with my iBook I figured out a way to do it. Using nothing more than a TiVo and Mac OS X (plus a few other free goodies), you can start backing up the latest Alias or Simpsons." Well, and a network card.
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TiVo Video Extraction with Mac OS X More

TiVo Video Extraction with Mac OS X

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  • Sadly, I have a Series 2 Tivo, otherwise I'd be heading home at lunchtime today and rigging it all up.

    I wonder if the newly announced broadband service for Series 2 will be a foot in the door towards doing this sort of operation there, too?
  • Will this not work with the Series 2? I just traded my old Series 1 standalone for a Series 2 DirecTiVo. I haven't connected it to my network yet but this could certainly be a great incentive to do so.

    • Re:Series 2? (Score:5, Informative)

      by jspayne ( 98716 ) <jeff@NOSPAm.paynesplace.com> on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @09:40AM (#5230831) Homepage
      Will this not work with the Series 2?

      This will not work because you cannot install any hacker tools on the S2. All the files are digitally signed, and the TiVo will blow away anything on root that doesn't check out (either modified or not supposed to be there) on boot up.

      On the other hand, you can still yank the drive from the TiVo, mount it in Linux, and run some extraction tools from there...but that wouldn't go in the "Apple" section.

      Jeff

      • Tivo 2 has Rendezvous (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        You don't need to do it on Tivo 2 with a Mac: http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/rendezvous.html

        ?TiVo?s upcoming premium service package will use Rendezvous technology to automatically discover Macintosh computers within the home network and determine which services they provide, allowing customers to listen to their shared music or view their shared photos on their TV,? said Jim Barton, Co-founder and CTO for TiVo. ?We are excited about working with Apple on other ways Rendezvous can help TiVo Series2 DVRs connect to a Mac to deliver future services.?

        • Re:Tivo 2 has Rendezvous (Score:3, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          But TiVo Series2 Rendezvous support is all about bringing content from the Mac into the TiVo, not extracting video from the TiVo into the Mac. I'm sure they'll try their best to keep that direction of data transfer restricted.
      • Why not just rip the drive and mount it under OS X? Unless Tivo drives are in some format OS X cannot read, does anyone know?

  • Build your own (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fished ( 574624 ) <amphigory@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @09:12AM (#5230714)
    I looked at the whole Tivo thing, and came to the conclusion that I would be better served to build my own using a linux box and either mythtv or freevo. The box also doubles as my household server, uses a WinTV card and a Geforce 2 to do video, plays cd's, plays arcade games, plays dvd's, rips cd's, burns vcds, etc. Still working on the integration a bit, but so far it is very nice. And all for about the same price as the tivo hardware without the monthly service fee. (Although I could definitely use a larger hard drive at this point.)

    Think different, oh thou geekish ones!

    • Re:Build your own (Score:3, Insightful)

      by micromoog ( 206608 )
      And all for about the same price as the tivo hardware without the monthly service fee.

      And without the monthly service, which is what makes Tivo worthwhile in the first place for many people.

      • Re:Build your own (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Fished ( 574624 )
        Yeah, I can get tv schedules (using xmltv). I can record. Does it automatically record stuff it thinks I want? No - but it does many nicer things.

    • Re:Build your own (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Piquan ( 49943 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @03:47PM (#5234148)

      I keep hearing this from different people. I do a lot of replacing stuff with alternatives. For example, I don't have Windows, I have FreeBSD w/ OpenOffice, etc. But as a TiVo user, I don't think that I could switch to a computer-based solution.

      There's just something about sitting down at the TV with a remote that can't be replaced. Also, there's something about the TiVo user interface that I think would become a lot more difficult in the translation to a computer.

      It's not just about recording shows. It's about changing the way you watch TV.

      • mythtv supports remotes. and implements a full-screen interface very much like that of the tivo. It is kind of a pain to get working -- lots of prerequisites -- but, hey, whaddaya want for free?
      • There's just something about sitting down at the TV with a remote that can't be replaced.
        Your Tivo is just a computer too, ya know. It's not the only computer that has menus and remote control and TV output. Tivo's interface is good, but the good things can be copied.

        The nice thing about an Open solution, is that the commercially-motivated bad things (e.g. my Tivo always has an ad on the main menu nowdays) won't be copied. Keep in mind: Slashdot ran this story because, deep down, there is something unfriendly about the Tivo. Slashdot isn't going to run a story that some clever elite hacker used the cp command or dragged an icon, to extract video from their homebrew PVR.

  • My TurboNET adapter's on the way. I originally bought it to enable broadband guide data downloads (so I can get rid of my phone line). Looks like I have a new reason now...

  • There's a reason for this... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by OneFix ( 18661 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @09:33AM (#5230799)
    TiVo has been very good to the hacking community...they have supported efforts to add broadband functionality (including adding support to new software revisions), recompile of kernels, ftp and http support, extra harddrive, etc...

    But the reason why they have been hesitant to support the reading (and backup) of the recorded video is that they are concerned with implications of distribution. The first and most obvious reason is that if someone can distribute commercial free recordings of TV shows recorded directly from a TiVo it could be argued that it is helping to facilitate piracy. The other reason would be that it would hurt sales...if you can get new episodes from your TiVo owning friend, why buy a TiVo???

    As such, most respectable members of the hacking community will not encourage this hack...which is really a testament to the advantages of a company working with the hacking community.
    • As such, most respectable members of the hacking community will not encourage this hack.

      I must disagree. Just as ripping a CD to a bunch of OGG files doesn't mean you're putting them up on Kazaa, ripping your saved shows onto a computer doesn't mean you're putting them up on Kazaa.

      I understand TiVo not wanting anything to do with it, which is why discussion about it is banned on the TiVo forums. But that doesn't make the practice bad, or hurtful to TiVo if we do it ourselves.

      The other taboo subject, replacing TiVo's program guide with one from a free source, falls squarely into the catagory of things respectable members of the hacking community should avoid. That takes money directly from TiVo's pocket, from a company that's been very good to us.

      Doug

    • ..if you can get new episodes from your TiVo owning friend, why buy a TiVo???

      If I could borrow a cooking pot from my mother, why would I buy my own?
      If I could borrow a CD why would I buy my own (although lots of people do...)
      If I could borrow a vhs tape of my friends taping of Altons Browns latest diatribe on protiens and salt, why would I watch the show? But I would watch the show and I would buy the DVD if it was good programming!!
      • If I could borrow a cooking pot from my mother, why would I buy my own?

        Huh??? This is physical...I'm not talking about borrowing...I'm talking about distributing...if your mom gives you her cooking pot, she can't use it...but if you copy a video of a show, you can both watch it...

        If I could borrow a CD why would I buy my own (although lots of people do...)

        Yea, of course noone listens to MP3s ripped from this CD do they?

        If I could borrow a vhs tape of my friends taping of Altons Browns latest diatribe on protiens and salt, why would I watch the show? But I would watch the show and I would buy the DVD if it was good programming!!

        Well, there is some advantage to watching new shows...because if it's very popular, everyone's gonna be talking about it tommorrow...

        But I think the widespread distribution of ripped DVDs and Telecined/Telesynced first-run movies tells you this answer...

        And why would you buy DVDs? Well, extra features, higher quality, and no commercials for a start...
  • and just haven't gotten around to install it. this is certainly the motivation needed. the poster above points out it's cheaper to 'roll your own' which I believe would be the case but for most users, this is probably a lot more than they either have time for or the skills to created while this hack is relatively straightforward for one who's ambitious but not necessarily a linux guru.
    -- joshua
    -- http://www.joshua.com

  • ReplayTV has a java based program for extracting.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Scyber ( 539694 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @09:37AM (#5230818)
    http://dvarchive.sf.net Only for the newer models with built in ethernet. 2.0 should be released soon (next week) which will add some new features.
  • Has anyone had any success upgrading a TiVo (adding a larger HD, installing software for the TurboNet card etc) using a Mac? Given that the TiVo runs Linux on a PPC processor, it seems a little ironic that I'll have to get my hands on a Wintel box to upgrade it, when I have perfectly good OS9, OSX and LinuxPPC machines available.

  • um... (Score:2)

    by Triv ( 181010 )
    Well, and a network card

    I might be misinterpreting this, but isn't it pretty unlikely to be running OS X on a system without an ethernet card built-in?

    Triv

  • No different... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by duggy_92127 ( 165859 ) <doug.shea@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @10:57AM (#5231421) Homepage

    This is no different from how I've been doing it for a goodly while now on my Linux box. They've just compiled the tools for OS X, that's all.

    I'm working on a version of the tools that will show you the listing in your console, let you select a show, and will stream the .ty, translate to .mpeg on the fly, and then either save that stream or use something (mplayer, perhaps) to recode to another codec (DivX, anyone?).

    And it's written entirely in Perl, so it should run anywhere Perl does. If anybody's interested in looking at it, pop me an email; I'd be especially interested in hearing from people with knowledge of the MPEG2 format.

    Doug

  • Mirror! (Score:2, Informative)

    by Arf4 ( 585619 )
    My friend, Joe, kindly posted a mirror [parallaxis.net] for this site in case it becomes unreachable...

  • Formac StudioDV/TV (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @12:19PM (#5232052)
    Formac has a device that will turn your Mac into a TiVo-equivalent. It's pricey, $399. Here's the product description from their website [formac.com]:

    Formac studio dv/tv turns your Mac into a fully functional TV and a high-quality digital VCR. Watch up to 125 channels in a scalable window or full-screen. The studio tvr software* allows you to record your favorite TV shows at any time and day, even if you are not at home (via remote scheduling). Use TitanTV's website to receive an up-to-date online program guide for your region, and use the one-step scheduling feature to record your favorite shows. Movies can also be recorded from and to any video device with RCA or S-VHS connectors, such as a standard VCR, Camcorder or DVD player. All movies are captured in high quality digital video (DV).
  • I'm considering getting Tivo (S2?) or replaytv.

    Primary concern: no stupid telephone callouts, so Tivo S2 would be easy.

    Secondary: can I extract at some point if I want to?

    So, Replaytv would possible do it all-- but are they viable enough?

  • if anyone has a replayTV (Score:5, Informative)

    by zephc ( 225327 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @02:05PM (#5232963)
    and OSX (or windows or linux) I suggest getting the command line program replayPC. [sourceforge.net]

    Basically, ReplayTV has its own little web server, and you can browse the contents of the drive with correct arsg to the httpfs cgi

    All the video is stored in the /Video directory, and is named by the timestamp (though doing an 'ls' via httpfs lets you view the date in human readable form, so u can guess which show is which.

    The only downside I've found in limited experimenting: after recording an episode of MST3K (2 hours) at lowest ('Standard') quality, it was a 2 GB xfer over the network. You'll have to reencode these movies yourself, to divx or whatever.

    Something else i noticed: replay TV will report it's IP with prepended zeros, eg. 123.234.120.012 rathaer than 123.234.120.012, and that seems to make a difference in whether or not I can connect to it (explanations anyone?)

  • Far more complicated than necessary (Score:3, Interesting)

    by vincent99 ( 146865 ) on Wednesday February 05, 2003 @06:15PM (#5235656)
    That's how I extracted stuff 2 years ago, but it's far more complicated than necessary today; Get the MFSStream [dyndns.org] module for TiVoWeb, you click on a show and your browser downloads the tystream.
  • The Daily Show, Joe Millionaire, The Simpsons, The Man Show...

    I think that guy figured out how to hook up to MY PVR!
  • ...the rest of that chick on your desktop (the one with the translucent Terminal windows on it) . ;-)

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