nzTiVo Numbers Dwindling...

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Originally Posted by Islander

Good to hear that you have success. Are you aware that you can backup your season passes and wishlists via tivoweb? These can then be reloaded after a rebuild. It is also possible to offload any saved recordings which can be uplodd or converted to DVDs.

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I noticed there was a message came through the TiVo the other day about the dwindling number of users. Currently seems to be about 75 in NZ and I'm worried that support will be cut off shortly if no-one is interested in the S1. Any ideas who I could talk to about volunteering to help maintain the service? I'm a 24 year veteran UNIX programmer so may be of some use. If nothing else, I would be interested in finding out what it would take to build my own guide server because it would be a shame for the eminently hackable S1 TiVo to disappear into history at the back of a cupboard.

Hmmm. Well I'm two of them running and I have several other functional but not connected ones.Try a PM to Wibble. I totally agree with you they are worth using. Still the best way to record Sky.

Our extended family account for another 2 (maybe 3) of them still in everyday use. Very appreciative of all the support over the years, and keen to see the guide data continue if at all possible. Apart from no HD, the UI etc still beats the competition.

I'm still here! still prefer TiVo to mysky.
I have my own code stored around here somewhere that can load the TiVo manually
via my own scrapers and injection code.
This was the system we used back in 2000 when we brought TiVo to nz.
(before or after timmy/jaidev, neither of us is sure)

I'm still using mine too - like the others here, I haven't found a better alternative to recording Sky and the UI is better than anything else too. The downsides of course:
- No HD
- Single tuner so can't record more than one programme at a time
- Disk fills up with Kid's programmes ... OK can't blame that on TiVo! :)

Other than that it just continues to rock on. I'm extremely grateful to those that continue to provide and troubleshoot the EPG service. Without their help it'd be MySky .. or trying to get my head around Mythbuntu or (heaven forbid) a Windows Media Centre or something.

Out of interest, what, if anything, are other previous TiVo users using in place of TiVo? I guess we have to prepare for the eventual demise ..?

Thanks again to all those who help out. You guys rock!

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Originally Posted by NZMarke

I guess we have to prepare for the eventual demise ..?

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Yep, while I host the server it's a magic black box, so if something goes pear-shaped one day, it'll be very difficult to fix.
(Hardware fixed I can handle)

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Originally Posted by NZMarke

Out of interest, what, if anything, are other previous TiVo users using in place of TiVo?

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Mythtv is the closest I've found, I've been using it for a few years. (I don't have a Tivo any more)
You can record SD sky (but not HD)
It's got web interface, so you can schedule things from your work/workstation.
You do however need some Linux knowledge
You can use XBMC as a frontend to Myth. (Which is what I do)

I'm quite happy to make my code available if the server dies/becomes not available.
Then you can load the TiVo yourself and you don't need the server.
You do need a pc however. It doesn't have quite the detail of the server,
ratings, etc. but it does suffice. We used it for like 5 years until we moved
to the nz server.


I also run Mediaportal on my pc, with a freeview card. This is really good,
runs tv, movies, music etc. can record simultaneous channels (if on same mux).
4x displays + hd projector connected to it, all around the house and an hardwired
IR sender. Works well in conjunction with TiVo to get those recording conflicts.
Isky helps too is this regard.

Cheers,
Divxmaster

I'm also running 2. Much appreciation to those that keep us going. I'm also happy to help out.

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Originally Posted by Wibble

Yep, while I host the server it's a magic black box, so if something goes pear-shaped one day, it'll be very difficult to fix.
(Hardware fixed I can handle)

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While I'm no Linux guru, or indeed Unix programmer, I'm happy to help out hosting a service or whatever if that's needed/helpful. Divxmaster - maybe we could work together to create a fallback service? Let me know if you're interested?

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Originally Posted by Wibble

Mythtv is the closest I've found, I've been using it for a few years. (I don't have a Tivo any more)
You can record SD sky (but not HD)
It's got web interface, so you can schedule things from your work/workstation.
You do however need some Linux knowledge
You can use XBMC as a frontend to Myth. (Which is what I do)

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How do you grab EPG data for Myth? Is there a similar service to the one that we use for TiVo?
And interested to know what's the limitation with recording HD Sky .. is that an encoding issue (i.e. the HD signal can't be decoded) or simply a limitation of your specific h/w setup.

Thanks Wibble!

Cheers,

Mark

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Originally Posted by NZMarke

How do you grab EPG data for Myth? Is there a similar service to the one that we use for TiVo?

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Somebody out there generates files daily in a format that mythtv can import. It's all automated, so it's a similar process.
Goggle of mythtv and nz
There also a NZ based mailing list.
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz

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Originally Posted by NZMarke

And interested to know what's the limitation with recording HD Sky .. is that an encoding issue (i.e. the HD signal can't be decoded) or simply a limitation of your specific h/w setup.

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With Mythtv you can record Freeview the raw format. It it just dumps the MPEG4 that is transmitted to disk. You get HD from DVB-T/UHF and SD from DVB-S/Satellite.
Sky is encrypted so you use the same method as the Tivo, but MySky only puts out HD over HDMI which is HDCP encrypted.
Component output of a MySky is SD only. So you can only get SD.