[blhirsch]

I was going to sell my DirecTivos now that I have FIOS tv. They're "enhanced" with networking, MRV, etc.

But I had an idea and I was wondering what you guys all thought of it....

I now have the new HDTivo with FIOS. According to press releases, they will be enabling MRV in the near future. Which means other Tivos in the house should be able to connect with it, yes?

Well, both of my DirecTivos are networked and swap shows between them with no problem. And even though there is no more sat service on them, they still show me a Now Playing List. Would it be possible to distribute them to other TVs in the house and then use them basically as MRV consoles? In other words, they wouldn't get their own TV signal, but would essentially serve to mirror the new Tivo's NPL.

Do you guys think this would be possible? If so, I would load it up with various kids' shows and hook it up to the TV in the playroom. The kids can watch their shows and even get more from the main Tivo.

 

[Aero 1]

interesting. im curious as well.

 

[blhirsch]

I guess the threshhold question is: if my two DirecTivos can see each other and swap shows, would they have been able to see, say, a standalone series2 that was also on that network? Does anybody have such a setup and could comment on that?

If MRV is MRV and any Tivo on the network is capable of swapping shows bewteen it and any other MRV-capable tivo on the network, then chances are, this will work just fine.

 

[stevel]

It does work as long as all of the TiVos are "enhanced", as you say. In particular, the standalone boxes have to be modified to disable encryption - and in doing so you lose, I think, the features that require use of TiVo's servers (I could be wrong about this).

 

[blhirsch]

It does work as long as all of the TiVos are "enhanced", as you say. In particular, the standalone boxes have to be modified to disable encryption - and in doing so you lose, I think, the features that require use of TiVo's servers (I could be wrong about this).

Wait. I'm confused. Let's hypothetically say the setup is as follows:

1. DirecTivo (networked, superpatched, etc)
2. DirecTivo (networked, superpatched, etc)
3. Standalone series 2 (unhacked, but networked because, well, it's a networkable series2 and they do that out of the box.)

Would the three tivos be able to see one another on a network and swap shows between them? Or would the series2 need to be modified to disable encryption?

If the series2 would have to ALSO be modified, then that shoots my plan because i'm not terribly interested in going into my standalone (series3) and start messing around. It was enough of a pain to get the cablecards working in the first place. I'm afraid to sneeze near it, frankly.

 

[willardcpa]

I think stevel is right even the SA need to be "enhanced" in order to swap shows with the DTivos. But you have a bigger issue, I don't think that anyone has come up with an "enhancement" for your series 3 HDTivo. So I think that your just "dreaming"

 

[blhirsch]

That would be a real bummer. Obviously my "enhancements" weren't in order to do anything nefarious with them, just get them to see each other on the network and modify season passes/settings from my computer.

I'd just like to be able to continue to use them in some way, kwim?

Somewhere out there, though, I guarantee that someone is working on a way to disable encryption in the s3.

I'm still holding out hope that MRV AMONG tivos does not require encryption disabling, though of course MRV between the computer and the tivo would need it.

 

[David Platt]

MRV between superpatched TiVos requires that ALL units be hacked. You can't MRV between hacked and unhacked units-- bottom line.

 

[blhirsch]

Darn. Well, I guess I'm off to wait until someone figures out how to superpatch the TivoHD and then see what I can do.

Thanks, everybody, for the quick replies!

 

[ForrestB]

All the MRV code was stripped out of Tivo software 6.3 for DirecTivo's - so this job just got more difficult.

 

[blhirsch]

All the MRV code was stripped out of Tivo software 6.3 for DirecTivo's - so this job just got more difficult.

Good thing my directivos don't call the mother ship, then!

 

[wolflord11]

I think stevel is right even the SA need to be "enhanced" in order to swap shows with the DTivos. But you have a bigger issue, I don't think that anyone has come up with an "enhancement" for your series 3 HDTivo. So I think that your just "dreaming"

But they Op managed to get us all thinking. Is it possible right now...NO... will it be possible in the future? Who knows.

Any great idea in this World started off with a Dream. I say well done to the OP and a big :up:

 

[bnm81002]

so please help me understand this thread here, what you guys are saying is that if 2 Directv Tivo units that are hacked can use MRV features between the 2 units without a subscription to Directv service? I have 3 DTivo units but 1 has been deactivated while the other 2 are active right now, but all 3 have been hacked with "the zipper" so I can use the deactivated one as a MRV unit to transfer recordings to it for viewing even if it's not activated on my Directv account? thanks for the clarification here

 

[wolflord11]

I believe the answer would be yes. Why not try it and see?

 

[bnm81002]

I believe the answer would be yes. Why not try it and see?

I would but I have to get a new motherboard for the deactivated one, I may do so in the future to try it out though, thanks

 

[beanpoppa]

You can't MRV with an unhacked Tivo. But one thing that I plan on doing when I switch to FiOS is using my 4 hacked Tivo's, along with Tivoserver, as set top IPTV appliances.

 

[blhirsch]

New idea.

Get something like EyeTV. Have it control a Verizon set top box. Set season passes, recordings, etc., and store the files on an external drive attached to the computer running the EyeTV software. Then use my tivoserver to serve up those files upon request (the server shows up in my NPL) to the remote tivos. It won't be tuned into the main HDTivo, but it will be getting new programming via the Verizon set top box and therefore any TV hooked up to these tivos will be able to request and receive programming recorded by the Eye TV.

Even better: wait for the EyeTV product that takes a cablecard.

Edited to add: Beanpoppa, are we basically talking about the same thing? I think we are.