Sam Lewit - Construction

TIVO MODIFICATIONS

TiVo

TiVo has got to be THE greatest invention in television watching history. There is just no way I could watch television without it. If you don't have TiVo (or any of the other DVR's out there) there's not much I can tell you that you haven't heard already. I've given up trying to talk people into it. The response I get is usually "I don't watch that much TV". Well it has absolutely nothing to do with how much TV you watch. It's all a matter of watching what you want, when you want. "Time shifted" television viewing. Never again will you wonder what time a certain program is on. It's on when YOU WANT IT TO BE ON. And commercials? What are those?

Modifying TiVo

I have made major modifications to my TiVo and if you have a TiVo, I can do the same for you. For one thing I increased the storage capacity from 35 hours to 105 hours. The cost was about $80. With hard drive prices plummeting, today the materials would be even less.

Other modifications done to my TiVo are commonly called "hacks" (not in the "bad hacking" sense... the good hacking sense). My TiVo is connected to my computer using an ethernet adaptor. Newer "Series 2" TiVo's (a series 2 has USB ports on the back. Series 1 does not) can be altered to accept a USB ethernet adaptor. The trick is going "into" the TiVo with your computer. The TiVo is simply a Linux computer and with a connection we could log into your TiVo and add useful programs that do different things.

On my TiVo I have a caller ID hack which flashes the name and number of the person calling on the telephone (you'll need Caller ID from the phone company for this). I have what is called TiVoWeb and this is basically a web based access into your TiVo. You can access it on your computer, or anywhere in the world you can connect to the internet! It also has features which are not available on the TiVo like UNdeleting programs (works extremely well), and recording shows in different ways. And you know how recording a show on TiVo sometimes takes like 30 seconds for it to complete? With TiVoWeb it is INSTANT. I also have an extraction tool which allows me to download any show, edit out parts I don't want, and burn them on CD, DVD or watch them on my computer. If that isn't enough, I can trade shows over the internet with other TiVo people that have this setup.

If you're interested in having your TiVo modified, even if just to expand the capacity, feel free to contact me.