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Thread: Emulator available

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    Wellington
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    Emulator available

    Update 25 October 2005
    As of this date I no longer run the NZ emulator, it is now hosted by Wibble and DJC. The post below is preserved as instructions are still accurate for setup on the new emulator. However, this post will be deprecated once instructions for the newer oztivo images are posted.
    End update

    I got the emulator runnning on my website over the weekend, so setup is considerably less painful. Various notes: guide data is coming from jaidev/tim, the only difference is it's coming through the service emulator. The headend slice is courtesy of jaidev (thanks!). AFAIK, if at some point in the future we (the nz types) migrate to another emulator, all one would need to do is edit tclient.conf to point at the new IP, but this is untested (as we've not yet had an emulator, let alone moved house from one to another). Regardless, I expect to leave the emulator functioning indefintely, so even if we find another solution later mine will continue to function (as long as I can still get guide data from jaidev/tim). As usual, use at your own risk, it works fine in my rather large test group of one, YMMV, if it blows up your TiVo, drinks all the beer in your 'fridge, and leaves dirty socks on the table it's not my fault...

    Setup instructions as near as I can remember them:

    Start off with the oztivo image, get it networked, and edit the file /etc/tclient.conf thus:

    # This is for the server emulator on minnie.
    127::210.48.107.133:80:::

    Instructions for editing files on the Tivo can be found here if needed. You can optionally setup DNS on the tivo and use either "www.pbp.net" or "emulator.caffeine.co.nz" at this stage (so that if the emulator moves IPs in the future you won't need to re-edit this file). This thread discusses the option.

    Plug your tivo into the tv via the video out jack on the back. Reboot, run guided setup with the following options:

    You'll see "TiVo Service Terms"

    Press 'select' to go to next screen

    "Program Source" Select Cable and press "Select"

    "Zip Code" Enter 02113 if on SkyDigital, 02115 if on Saturn Cable

    "Time Zone" Doesn't matter.. just select the first one (Eastern) and press Å*Select'

    "Daylight Savings" select "no" and press "select" butto

    "Area Code" Enter 002 and press 'Select'

    "Phone Dialing Options" select 'no : continue' and press 'select'

    "Setup Call" Press select to go past this screen


    It will take a while to connect and do it's thing.

    Let it do its thing (go make a coffee or play quake for a bit)

    When finished press 'select'

    "Dial In Numbers" choose 'none of the above' and press 'select'

    "No local Numbers" choose 'sales and marketing program' and press Å*select'

    "Cable box" select yes and press 'select'

    "Cable Providers" choose 'Sky Digital Auckland' or 'Saturn' as appropriate and press 'select'

    On the screen where it asks about how the box is connected, set to appropriate choice for your environment (either composite a/v in or s-video).

    On cable box brand, you can try to see if yours is supported in the existing lists but it probably won't be. If it isn't just select some random one and let it go (I chose Motorola choice 1, 3 digit channel, no enter key, but any will do as you're going to replace it later anyway). I am told Saturn uses General Instruments 10006-fast.

    Let it do it's daily call bit for guide data.

    You're done with G/Setup, reboot.

    Unless you got your cable box working in the step above (i.e. you're on Saturn with the Gen Instruments or you have a Pace decoder on Sky) you'll need to add your cable box IR codes. Presumably there will be an existing tcl script for your box. If not you need to make one, go to the oztivo site for instructions on how to do this. If there is an existing file, you can skip the first 6 steps of this document and start with 7 to load the codes.

    After your reboot you should be up (though as always the machine will need to think for a few hours before it's really ready to run, but live tv and such will work fine).

    Drop me a line with any questions or whatever. ed at hintz dot org

    Update 18 Apr

    An existing machine (installed via the command line/add channels bit) can be converted to the emulator with minimal fuss. Go into messages & setup:system reset, and choose "repeat guided setup". Then follow the instructions as above. I just did this with mine, and all existing recordings, season passes, and all items on the to-do list were preserved. Note of course that you will need to configure the tivo such that it will do guided setup (on the oztivo image this is done from tivoweb under the PAL/NTSC link, if using an older image you may need a different method of changing to NTSC or PAL+GS). The entire process took about an hour and a half.

    Additionally, if you run guided setup in NTSC mode, the tivo seems to (reasonably) expect an NTSC signal, so you will need to provide it one in order to finish the setup. I used a Region 1 DVD, but any NTSC source will presumably do.

    Update 1 May

    IP address changed; webhost moved to new upstream providor.

    Update 16 August

    Added link for thread documenting how to edit files.

    Update 17 August
    Note- if converting from loadguide/manual setup to emulator, as per the 18 Apr. update, you also need to edit tclient.conf (otherwise the Tivo will be talking to the Aussie emulator, and it won't work so hot...)

    Update 1 October
    Added support for Saturn cable, modified instructions to reflect this.

    Update 13 November
    IP address changed; webhost moved.

    Update 16 November
    Added option for DNS.

    Update 23 January '05
    IP address changed; webhost moved.

    Update 25 October '05
    IP address changed; NZ emulator now provided by Wibble and DJC.
    Last edited by ehintz; 25-10-2005 at 05:12 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    Wellington
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    Oh, I forgot to add, you'll probably want to set the time on the Tivo, set it to localtime:

    settime [YYYYMMDDhhmm[ss]]
    settime -rtc

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Cheviot, North Canterbury
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    Should I switch?

    Hi Ed, is there any advantage to switching to the emulator if I already have a Tivo up and running using loadguide?

  4. #4
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    Apr 2004
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    Wellington
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    Not really. With one major caveat.

    If guide lineups change later (for instance back in Dec. the Hallmark channel morphed into the Disney channel), getting a headend slice update from the emulator basically changes this on the fly. By contrast, changing it via the command line versions can be sketchy. When I changed mine, it b0rked the hell out of the box, and I eventually had to do a clear/delete everything and start over from scratch (the thing got wildly unreliable, crashing 3-6 times daily). I now think this was because after modifying/deleting the Hallmark channel I still had references to it in the form of manual recordings in Now Showing and season passes, so perhaps using due care to remove these before modifying the channel would work. Others were able to morph the channels without issue (probably because they had no references to Hallmark in season passes or now showing). Anyway, point being that any updates to guide lineups are slick and easy (and preserve existing recordings) with the emulator, and can get ugly otherwise.

    I suppose I'd say if you already have it running and accumlating season passes and such you're better off leaving it alone until such time as you need to do a clear/delete all(this is where I'm at for the moment-somewhat ironic to host the emulator yet use loadguide myself).

    Also, I've no idea if/how loadguide performs under a dialup connection. This was part of the reason for setting it up; a mate just got his Tivo, and rather than do the manual setup on his I figured it was a good opportunity to try running the emulator. Also, since he's on dialup, I figured the built-in phone home capability with the emulator would be preferable to figuring out how to make it dial for loadguide. As a point of reference, the current configuration is a paradise dialup using the emulator, and it's working nicely so far (2 guide data slices loaded during the daily call process). I also was able to make a test call work with an ihug dialup. Since I'm sure somebody's gonna read this and ask about dialup, config info is found here.

    I also found that the referenced ppp-options file (on the 1.3 image) did not function, I replaced it with this:

    /dev/cua1
    115200
    crtscts
    debug
    kdebug 1
    asyncmap 0
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    defaultroute
    nodetach
    nodeflate

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Cheviot, North Canterbury
    Posts
    103
    Thanks Ed, well it sounds like the emulator is definitely going to be the preferred option for new setups, right now I've just got my Tivo running again after re-imaging to try and fix a bad video glitching problem so I think I won't fix what aint broke

    Bruce

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Wellington
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    Smile

    Words of wisdom, those...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Wellington, NZ
    Posts
    573
    Quote Originally Posted by ehintz

    *snip*

    Plug your tivo into the tv via the video out jack on the back. Reboot, run guided setup with the following options:

    You'll see "TiVo Service Terms"

    Press 'select' to go to next screen

    "Program Source" Select Cable and press "Select"

    "Zip Code" Enter 02113

    "Time Zone" Doesn't matter.. just select the first one (Eastern) and press «Select'

    "Daylight Savings" select "no" and press "select" butto

    "Area Code" Enter 002 and press 'Select'

    "Phone Dialing Options" select 'no : continue' and press 'select'

    "Setup Call" Press select to go past this screen


    It will take a while to connect and do it's thing.

    Let it do its thing (go make a coffee or play quake for a bit)

    When finished press 'select'

    "Dial In Numbers" choose 'none of the above' and press 'select'

    "No local Numbers" choose 'sales and marketing program' and press «select'

    "Cable box" select yes and press 'select'

    "Cable Providers" choose 'Sky Digital Auckland' and press 'select'

    On the screen where it asks about how the box is connected, set to appropriate choice for your environment (either composite a/v in or s-video).

    On cable box brand, you can try to see if yours is supported in the existing lists but it probably won't be. If it isn't just select some random one and let it go (I chose Motorola choice 1, 3 digit channel, no enter key, but any will do as you're going to replace it later anyway).

    Let it do it's daily call bit for guide data.

    *snip*
    ... and of course, don't forget to credit Tim's site where some of this information came from

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Wellington
    Posts
    224
    Quote Originally Posted by zollymonsta
    ... and of course, don't forget to credit Tim's site where some of this information came from
    Heh. Or to be really anal, "grant", who provided it to Tim who provided it to me... Starting to sound like a Gilbert and Sullivan song...

    I thought of just pointing to the faq, but figured it would be more confusing, since only the first bit remains the same, and then we branch off into bits not covered by the first one... But for full disclosure of credit, props to Tim/Grant, OzTivo, and TivoCanada (and of course Jaidev, who got his due up front for the headend slice, and jaidev/tim, who likewise got credit for guide data creation and supply).

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
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    Posts
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    Good on ya mate

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Auckland
    Posts
    32

    "No video"

    This is great Ed. I seem to have something wrong with my setup towards the end however -- the tivo says it can't detect my video signal. I've tried booting the Tivo in NTSC and PAL modes with the same result. I'm using composite video from a Motorola Sky box, which works fine when I plug it into my TV or video. The tivo however reckons there is no video signal.

    I've searched around without seeing a similar report. Any ideas?

    Thanks
    Matt

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