Comments | e_pepys: TiVo

e_pepys

TiVo

Feb 15, 2011 19:02

There's good news and bad news.

The good news is much-anticipated: the first new TiVo model in the UK for a decade, and it arrived today! (According to the engineer, I'm the first customer to get one in Oxford.) It is very whizzy with dual-tuner HD recording direct from the cable and integration with the on-demand services, YouTube, etc. It has ( Read more... )

Comments 7

parrot_knight February 15 2011, 20:17:00 UTC

Still a good thing given that timeshifted viewing in the UK has become erroneously synonymous in the minds of many with Sky+...

e_pepys February 15 2011, 22:00:39 UTC

I suppose the "Sky+" generic term in the UK makes up for "TiVo" in the US.

waistcoatmark February 16 2011, 07:07:51 UTC

What about the lifetime subscriptions? Are they going to be refunded?

e_pepys February 16 2011, 11:25:34 UTC

No. It was always always "lifetime of the TiVo and the TiVo service", not your lifetime. I think 10 years' service for a one-off payment is pretty good going, but it's a pity they couldn't keep it going.

celestialweasel February 16 2011, 17:52:07 UTC

Are the new ones not Linux, or not hackable, or not officially hackable, or what?

e_pepys February 16 2011, 22:08:19 UTC

Hacking would be difficult. First, the box is owned by Virgin Media, so opening it up could cause trouble.

It is also probably technically difficult. The TiVo Series 4 has so far not been successfully hacked (apart from disk upgrades), and the assumption is that the Virgin Media box is similar. TiVo still runs Linux, but the boot PROM checks the installation hasn't been tampered with before starting it. This is "TiVoisation" that caused lots of arguments over GPL3.

Still, if it turns out that hacking the new box is possible (and isn't likely to get me in trouble), then I'll be delighted.

celestialweasel February 17 2011, 11:50:45 UTC

Ah, the TiVoisation thing, I had forgotten about that.
Were you not attracted to one of the open source thingies (the name MythTV springs to mind but I don't really keep up with things as I watch so little TV these days)