FS: 80Gb TiVo w/ palmod & cachecard.

[zollymonsta]

Actually... I was looking at starting on a US model and that pretty much matches the cost. A US TiVo will cost ~US$180 (90+90pp!), Cached/Network card is US$99, 80GB harddrive about NZ$150 and PAL tuner and Stereo modification about $100 local (probably US$160 to get done in Aus with postage). All that comes to $650-800.

If anyone knows of a (much) cheaper way then please let us know. I know I have a people who have been asking me. Many do want the tuner modification, and if you are savy with a soldering iron, then this could be done for NZ$70... but I have no idea what the stereo modifications is... or even if it could be got working over here (we use Nicam).

Well not so expensive if you already have a spare hard drive kicking around.
I got a series 1 Phillips Tivo from George at eksys with network card and serial cable. Worked out to around $401 on the Visa. No point getting the tuner mod done if you have Sky Digital or Saturn as you can just use the A/V in jacks.

If you are wanting to get the tuner mod done, eventually there will probably someone game enough in NZ to do it.

[Grant]

I am in the middle of this also.... I have done the tivo pal mod with an ALPs tuner (same as samsung ) and nicam chip as supplied by DK in Aus.

I did the mod myself so could help out anyone who wanted to do it locally...

But- I am stuck on the local channels problems - so thanks for the comments above, they are starting to shed some light on it. I was having probs so installed 99 FTA channels and can only get a picture on 2 of these and they are not the UHF channels for my region (chch). - I assume that this just where the channels coincide with Aus frequencies?

In the above code are the numbers 45250,182250 etc the local channel frequencies in Hz?

{ 1, 45250 }, /* freq: 1 - TV1*/
{ 2, 182250 }, /* freq: 5 - TV2*/

I'm not upto speed with coding/compiling a chch version so will need to ask for some help here.

Nice to know some others are working on the same path!

[number6]

I am in the middle of this also.... I have done the tivo pal mod with an ALPs tuner (same as samsung ) and nicam chip as supplied by DK in Aus.

I did the mod myself so could help out anyone who wanted to do it locally...

But- I am stuck on the local channels problems - so thanks for the comments above, they are starting to shed some light on it. I was having probs so installed 99 FTA channels and can only get a picture on 2 of these and they are not the UHF channels for my region (chch). - I assume that this just where the channels coincide with Aus frequencies?

In the above code are the numbers 45250,182250 etc the local channel frequencies in Hz?

{ 1, 45250 }, /* freq: 1 - TV1*/
{ 2, 182250 }, /* freq: 5 - TV2*/

I'm not upto speed with coding/compiling a chch version so will need to ask for some help here.

Nice to know some others are working on the same path!

You will have a problem with the AUS Palmod version as it won't work out of the box here due to channel frequency allocation differences.
[Technically - AUS use 7MHz channel allocation in the UHF bands, we use 8Mhz and a different starting "frequency" so that the AUS and NZ channels don't intersect except at a few places and few of those have a TV channel on them]

The table in the code snippet above has been reduced from the full set of channels so that the author could place TV1 for his location on button 1 on his remote, the same for TV2 so its on button 2 on his remote etc, which is only of use to him or someone else who lives in the same bit of Wellington as him [everyone with a Tivo lives in Wellington don't they - Yeah, Right].

You need to obtain the (compiled) module from the source code mentioned above in This link for the zip file mentioned above. Unfortunately you need a cross-compiler to build the module from this code, or you need to ask someone with the cross-compiler to compile it for you.

The you install it on your Tivo and have it loaded **instead** of the existing PALMOD.o file
[and then reboot your Tivo].

Then you need to test it with each your 99 free-to-air channels to obtain the correct "channel numbers" for the TV Station you can pick up.
Then you either: Rename the channels that work into the proper names and numbers e.g. FTQ Channel 03 becomes "TV1" etc (I think TV! in CHC is on VHF channel 3) or delete them and then re-add them with the correct info, channel number etc.

The others (free to air channels) you can leave then in your Tivo but set them up as channels I don't get (do that from Channels I watch in Guide screen) for now so that they don't appear when you go channel up/down etc on the remote.

NotE: If your TV1 is on "VHF channel 3", then to go to TV 1 on FTA you need to enter 03 (or just 3 enter) on the Remote.

On my system TV1 is on VHF channel 2, TV2 is on VHF channel 4 and TV3 is on VHF channel 7, so I enter 02 on the remote to directly access TV1, 04 for TV2 and 07 for TV3.

When I record a program, the Tivo knows that channel its on so it selects the highest quality source available (Sky decoder if you have it, FTA otherwise).

[thomson]

I am in the middle of this also.... I have done the tivo pal mod with an ALPs tuner (same as samsung ) and nicam chip as supplied by DK in Aus.

Grant, firstly you can find the NZ-aware binaries (palmod.o and palmod_config) here . You should be able to replace the palmod.o module in the /lib/modules directory and use the new palmod_config to select "NZ Samsung/ALPS".

Did you get a nicam chip from DK? I have had a look at his stereo modification instructions and they do not look like they will work with Nicam. He is using a 5.74MHz ceramic filter... at the very least this will need to be changed to a 5.85MHz? My UK Tivo works fine with Nicam so there may be a simpler solution... as that just uses an i2c instruction to select Nicam decoding.

I have a feeling that both a 5.85MHz filter AND an i2c instruction to get the sound processor to decode Nicam would be required. DK or one of the other modification masters may be able to shed some light.

[Grant]

Hi Thomson, I haven't yet had enough good reception to know if the nicam is working - I suspect not, but I up till now I've been blaming the channel issue.

For me - if I can get the software working then the hardware is a whole bunch easier

I'll take a look with the advice above and see where I get to! - cheers!

[thomson]

The response I recevied from DK (who was unaware of the different standards in NZ and wishes for standards!) mentions that the TDA9821 chip is an analogue device and is will not work with NICAM

UPDATE: It seems that the MSP3430G chip will need to be replaced with a MSP3450G chip... and this is an 80pin surface mount chip - not for the faint hearted. See this post for more information.

[Grant]

Howdy T. thanks for the info & files.

Is your palmod_config file a replacement for palmod.conf? ( note the slight name differences)

or a new additional file?

I assumed it was a replacement, so renamed the exisiting palmod.conf file and replaced it with the new file.... but...it all came to a scretching halt when rebooting... no telnet etc so it looks like I'm up for a reimage... I assume that its just a sequence or finger trouble!


as for 80pin chip replacements - I've done it before - if we can get the code working then I'm pretty sure I could handle the rework, I hate to think what the new chip is worth tho..but definitely not for the faint hearted - a possible avalanche of trouble!

[thomson]

Is your palmod_config file a replacement for palmod.conf? ( note the slight name differences) or a new additional file?

I assumed it was a replacement, so renamed the exisiting palmod.conf file and replaced it with the new file.... but...it all came to a scretching halt when rebooting... no telnet etc so it looks like I'm up for a reimage... I assume that its just a sequence or finger trouble!

Sorry about the confusion... the palmod_config file is not a replacement for palmod.conf - it is actually a binary file that you run which prompts you for configuration choices. It then writes out a palmod.conf file and handles all the ro/rw stuff for you. It was created by the oztivo guys to make things easier to configure. There should have already been a palmod_config binary on your system under /sbin.

as for 80pin chip replacements - I've done it before - if we can get the code working then I'm pretty sure I could handle the rework, I hate to think what the new chip is worth tho..but definitely not for the faint hearted - a possible avalanche of trouble!

The problem is not the soldering... it is getting hold of the chip... unless you are willing to purchase thousands of them then they pratically impossible to purchase. I have tried a few sources, but nobody has even come close.