TiVo Series 1 video streaming

TiVo's added some cool new features to the Series 2 units. In particular, what they call "multi-room viewing". If you have multiple Series 2 TiVos, you can lay in bed and watch shows that the TiVo in the livingroom has recorded.

What? You don't have multiple Series 2 TiVos? But you've got a Series 1 TiVo and a PC (or more). Wouldn't it be nice if you could sit at your PC (or use your HTPC that's already wired to your TV) to play shows that you've already recorded on your TiVo? Well, you can!

It's more involved than a just couple clicks, but a mildly experienced hacker shouldn't have any trouble. Once setup, you'll be able to use a web interface to get a list of shows that are on your TiVo and click one to have it start playing. I installed this remotely for my parents in about 10 minutes (having practiced on my own TiVo) and they love it.

Here's what you need:

• A TiVoNet, or similar, card (~$70 at 9thtee.com) installed in your TiVo.
• TiVo Web Plus - a free download. (more info)
• vserver - a free download. (more info)
• TyShow - a free download. (more info)

Once you've got all those, it's time to start installing. It's been several years since I installed my TiVoNet card so I'll have to refer any questions to some online FAQs.


Installing TiVoWeb Plus
Short version: FTP the .tpm to your tivo and run it, then edit tivoweb.cfg and change TyShowLinks to 1.

Detailed version:

1. Open your downloads folder and extract the ZIP file. There are four files in there, but we're only interested in the one named TivoWebPlus-1.0-final.tivo.tpm.
2. Open a DOS window (Start -> Run -> "cmd") and CD to where you extracted TivoWebPlus-1.0-final.tivo.tpm.
3. Connect to the TiVo by typing: ftp 192.168.1.3 (use the IP address for your tivo)
4. At both the login and password prompts, just press RETURN
5. Once presented with an ftp> prompt, type: cd /var/hack
6. Then upload the file: put TivoWebPlus-1.0-final.tivo.tpm
7. Disconnection: exit
8. Login to the tivo: telnet 192.168.1.3 (use the IP address for your tivo)
9. Change to the hack directory: cd /var/hack
10. Run the installer: ./TivoWebPlus-1.0-final.tivo.tpm (note the ./)
    
11. I think it asks if you want to run it at boot, say yes. (sorry, it's been too long, I forget the exact phrasing)
    
12. Change to the new tivoweb-plus directory: cd tivoweb-plus
    
13. Unfortunately, it defaults to not showing the clickable links that we need so we'll have to edit the config file. If you've got vi installed, you can use that to edit tivoweb.cfg and change TyShowLinks = 0 to TyShowLinks = 1. If you don't have vi installed, keep reading.
14. Display the current contents: cat tivoweb.cfg
15. Copy the output to notepad.
16. Change the line that says TyShowLinks = 0 to TyShowLinks = 1. It should now look like:

    UserName =
    Password =
    Port = 80
    Prefix =
    Theme =
    DescriptionHover = 1
    MultiDelete = 1
    TyShowLinks = 1
    EthernetInterface =

17. Copy the new text.
    
18. Rename the original config (it will be our backup): mv tivoweb.cfg tivoweb.cfg.orig
19. Start a new config file: cat > tivoweb.cfg
20. Paste the text you copied in step 17.
21. End the file by pressing CTRL-D.

Now you should be able to browse to your tivo: http://192.168.1.3 (again, use your tivo's IP address). Since we've changed the config file, you'll need to click on the Restart link at the bottom and select Full Reload. This only restarts the web server, it doesn't reboot the TiVo.

To see a list of what's on your TiVo, click Main Menu -> User Interface -> Now Showing. There should be a column on the right end of each row labeled "view". It won't work yet, but soon...


Installing vserver on the tivo
Short version: extract vserver-ppc-s1-exec from the .tar.gz and upload it to the tivo as just "vserver". Add a line to rc.sysinit.author to launch vserver in the background at boot time.

Detailed version:

1. Extract the file "vserver-ppc-s1-exec" from the .tar.gz (WinZip can do it)
2. Rename vserver-ppc-s1-exec to vserver.
3. FTP vserver to the tivo as done in steps 3 - 7 above.
4. Login to the tivo as in step 8 above (if you're still logged in, that's fine)
5. Go to the startup directory: cd /etc/rc.d
6. Enable writing to the root filesystem: mount -o remount,rw /
7. Make a backup of the startup file: cp rc.sysinit.author rc.sysinit.author.orig
8. Add a line to launch vserver in the background: echo "/var/hack/bin/vserver >& /dev/null &" >> rc.sysinit.author
9. Set the root filesystem back to read-only: mount -o remount,ro /
10. Logout: exit

That's all the work that needs to be done on the TiVo side.


Installing TyShow on Windows

1. Create a new folder for TyShow (e.g. C:\Program Files\TyShow).
2. Extract the RAR file to the new TyShow folder (use WinRAR - more info).
3. Doubleclick register.bat to install the codec.
4. Doubleclick TyExtension.reg to associate the files.

Now you're all set to go
Point your browser at the TiVo: http://192.168.1.3/nowshowing and click the "view" link to the right of a show. If all went smoothly, you'll see Windows Media Player play the show. While it's playing, it doesn't affect the TiVo. That is, you can watch one thing on the TV directly from the TiVo and something else (or the same thing) on a PC at the same time.

Enjoy.
With thanks to all the folks that have worked hard to write these programs and give them away for free!