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On one of the pages on WeetHet you will find some info on how to Hack your DirecTV TiVo. I recommended the OS6.2, but optional you can use either the 4.x or the Sleeperhack. Note: this article has been UPDATED to match the TiVo OS 6.2 hack and TyTools10r4. Hacking the TiVo by expanding recording capacity is all nice and dandy, but it would be cool if we could make good use of some of the new features like downloading a movie to your PC, so you can bun it on a (S)VCD or DVD (see video formats page for more details on these formats). On this page I'll show you how to copy a video from your TiVo (hacked to OS 6.2, the other hacks work similar). We will use the so called "tyTools" for this purpose. Additional sources: - PTVupgrade for the best upgrade kist, and their Forum - TyTools homepage - The forum at DealDatabase - TivoCommunity - Weaknees (for older TiVo's) - 9thTee (also for older TiVo's) Don't forget to read the Disclaimer!

What do we need

First of all, we need a TiVo. This article is based on a DirecTiVo series 2, that has been hacked using the OS 6.2 hack.

Furthermore, we need network connection to the TiVo. So I'm assuming you're using an USB to Ethernet, an USB to wireless, a TiVonet card, or a Turbonet card with your TiVo (this all depends on the model of course).

Advantage of using the Sleeper hack is that the proper files are already installed on your TiVo.
But like I stated before; I'm asuming the OS6.2 hack based on the PTVupgrade images.

We basically follow these steps:

• Install tserver on your TiVo
• Get TyTool on your PC
  
  
• Step 1: Start tserver on your TiVo and run TyTool on your PC
  - Method 1: Start tserver from TyTools
  - Method 2: Start tserver manually
  - Method 3: Start tserver at TiVo bootup (not recommended)
  
  
• Step 2: Get the "Now Showing" list
  
  
• Step 3: Download recordings
  
  
• Step 5: (Optional) For the impatient - Playback of Ty-Files on your PC
  
  
• Step 7: Strip the commercials
  
  
• Step 8: Create MPEG 2 files (DVD&SVCD) or VOB files (DVD)
  - This allows you to burn the movies to DVD or SVCD, or use them with other MPEG2 capable applications.

Installing tools on the TiVo

Users of the Sleeper Hack do not really need this - since it comes with the hack (however: it doesn't hurt either).
In all other cases you DO need this!

Visit the official tyTool homepage or the dealdatabase thread for the latest version.
I also added tyTools to our downloadspage.

Download the archive file and unzip the files (I'm assuming you're using TyTools10r4 - which can be found on the downloadspage).

Depending on your TiVo, choose the right version of tserver!

DirecTiVo's owners choose: TSERVER_Series2_MIPS.
I assume Standalone TiVo users choose: TSERVER_Series1 (would be nice if some one could confirm this).

We will use FTP to send the files to your TiVo. You can use your favorite FTP program for that.

Either use the FTP client build in Windows (not recommended, but it does work) or use a tool like FileZilla or LeechFTP (both a free FTP client). We assume that you decided to use FileZilla.

Start FileZilla, enter the IP-Address you found in the field "Address:" and press "ENTER".

Next (and DO NOT FORGET THIS!!!) we need to set the transfer mode to BINARY.
Click the menu "Transfer", choose "Transfer Type" and select "Binary" from the menu.

If you FORGET to do this, executing the scripts will result in a "No such file or directory" error.

FileZilla will instantly connect to your TiVo and show a list of folders on the right side ("Remote Site:").
To this box we will copy the tserver file.

Double click the "var" folder, and then double click the "hack" folder so you end up at a folder called "/var/hack" (just to keep things organized). As of this point, I assume you did too. (any other location will work too - just remember where you put it!)

In the box called "Local Site:" you will see your local harddrive, browse through it to find where you extracted the TyTools10r4 files.

Once you found the files in the box on the left (Local Site), and you opened the folder "/var/hack" in the box on the right (Remote Site), you can now drag the tserver file (the one suitable for your TiVo) there.
FileZilla will show some messages in the top box and finally the box on the right shows the files being added.

Now we need to make the tserver file executable.
Most likely it already is - but just to avoid issues later on; right click the file, select "File Attributes" and make sure that in the upcoming window the field "Numeric value:" says "755".

Once you're done, you can close FileZilla.

TyTools on your PC

This step is required for all of you: Download the TyTools.
Visit the official tyTool homepage, or the DealDatabase thread for the latest version.
I also added tyTools to our downloadspage.

Again; I'mn asuming you're using TyTools10r4.
This version unlike previous versions does NOT come with a NowShowing.tcl file.
This is now included in the tserver file, so it's not required anymore.

Note: if you later on get a message saying "invalid attribute: TimeZone ..." then you're probably using an older version of tserver, consider upgrading to this new version!

Unzip the archive. And you're done ... Easy ...

I copied the files on my D: drive in a folder called TyTools (so D:\TyTools).
In that folder I made a subfolder called "Recordings". It's up to you if you want to do it that way too or not.

Step 1: Start the tserver on your TiVo

To be able to copy recoirdings from your TiVo to your PC we need communication. All the essential parts are in place we just need to "start" the TiVo application (tserver) and the PC application (TyTool) to get things going.

Note: the configuration steps do not need to be repeated the next time you start TyTools. TyTools will save it's settings on exit.

There are 3 ways of starting tserver on your TiVo - of which I strongly recommend method 1.

Method 1: The easy way by using TyTools.

You can start the server through a menu option in the TyTool GUI. This method is really the easiest to use.
(It uses telnet automatically, just as described in method 2, so you do not have to do this manually)

To do this you will need to start the Windows part called TyTool (TyTool10r4.exe).
Start it and you will see the initial window:

TyTool10R4 - Start screen: Set IP Address (A) and Download folder (B)

The first step we do is set IP Address (field A) and Download folder (field B).

Click the menu "Options" - "Preferences". In the preferences window select "Server".

TyTool - Set the Execute String for tserver on your TiVo

If tserver resides in /var/hack (as suggested earlier) then the command line should be: /var/hack/tserver
Enter this text in the "Server Execute String" and click "Apply".

The second field "Server Shell Prompt String" appears to be doing fine if we do not enter anything there - so leave it be for now.
I guess that TyTool already by default assumes that the shell prompt is "bash-2.02# ".
If your prompt is different then enter it here now or try and see what happens when we start the server and modify afterwards if it showed to be a required change.

Click the "Close" button.

Note: These steps do not need to be repeated everytime you start TyTool - on exit it will save these settings.

Now and every next time, we can start the tserver by clicking the menu "Server" - "Start tserver".
When you click this a little window will popup giving you telnet feedback, for example:

TyTool - Starting tserver from Windows is easy

The text "Waiting for an incomming connection!" is showing: looks like the connection is good!
Your connection between PC and TiVo is there (not yet a guarantee that it works though!).

In case you would like to stop tserver again, you use the menu "Server" - "Stop Server".

Method 2: Manually by using a Telnet session.

This method takes more work, but is in essence the same.

Open a telnet session, using a telnet application, (for example PuTTY - see our Downloadspage) to your TiVo.

In the shell go to the folder using "cd /var/hack/" (again aduming that you have the tserver file on your TiVo in /var/hack).

Once connected start the server by typing in the shell (in the Telnet application): tserver (and press ENTER).

Your TiVo will respond with: Waiting for an incoming connection!
That's good!

Your TiVo will respond with: Waiting for an incoming connection!

Just like with Method 1 you will need to start the TyTool on your PC as well.

Stopping the tserver in the telnet window can be done by using CTRL+C or closing the telnet connection.

Method 3: Have TiVo start tserver a boot time..

Since this method seems handy initially, people have reported issues with it.
That's why I leave this option for the more advanced Linux users, who do not mind fixing things.

Step 2: Refresh - Get the Now Showing list

Now click the "Refresh" button. tyTool will now try to retrieve the "Now Showing" data.
This usually doesn't take much time:

TyTool - We just retrieved the Now Showing list

Step 3: Downloading the movies

Before we can start downloading, make sure that the tyTools (PC) is set to "TyStream Mode".
We do this by opening the menu "File". Make sure "TyStream Mode" is checked:

tyTools - Set it to TyStream Mode

Now select the desired movies/episodes you want to copy.

tyTools - Select the desired movies or episodes

Selection of multiple files works in the usual Windows way.

Once you made your selection, click the "Get" button.

This will initiate the copying from the so called "ty files" (specific TiVo audio/video format) to your PC (to the folder you set previously). Depending on your connection speed, and the size of the recordings, this can take a while. The connection I use (wired, using an USB 2.0 adapter) takes 3 minutes to copy an episode of friends (including the commercial we do not want).

During this download process, the "TServer Output window" will show something like this (similar output can be seen if you have chosen to use method 2):

tyTools - Data transfer in progress

Step 4: For the impatient - Playback on your PC of Ty-Files

After copying these files, you can play them already on your PC. However your PC needs a bit of help there. You need to install the so called TyShow DirectShow filters, which can be downloaded from the TyShow project page or from our downloads page.

Keep in mind that this is still in beta phase, but it works! And that's what counts.

Extract the RAR archive (use WinRar), and place the files in a folder where you would like to keep them (don't move them around later!).

Now double click the "register.bat" file, so the DirectShow filters will be registered.

Note
1) you will need to have a DVD playback application (like for example PowerDVD) on your PC installed!
2) Keep also in mind that TyShow appears to have some issues with Windows ME (then again; who doesn't?).
3) TyShow is still BETA so expect issues left and right!

Next you open the downloaded Ty file with for example the Windows Media player or my favorite: the Media Player Classic.

But you might also want to continue with the next few steps where you can simply create an MPEG movie of it in a few clicks without commercials ...

Step 7: Getting rid of the commercials

Since we do not care much for the commercials (although my friend Wally will have a different opinion), we would love to cut them out. And this is what we're about to do.

From the "File" menu, select "Make Key File(s)".

A new window appears. Select the file(s) you wish to process, and click the "Add" button. The selected file(s) will now appear in the "Files to Process:" part of the window.

Now click the "Process" button. The window will close and the main window of tyTools will now show the progress:

tyTools - Making Key files, so we can cut commercials

In general, this will take not much time, just a few minutes.

Once this is done (indicated by a text like this: "Done with '<path>\<filename>.ty'..." at the bottom of the window) we click the "File" menu again, and now select "Edit Key File(s)".

Again a new window will open. Just like before; Select the file(s) you wish to process, and click the "Add" button. The selected file(s) will now appear in the "Files to Process:" part of the window.

Now click the "Process" button. After a second or two the so called "TyTool GOP Editor" will appear:

tyTool - GOP Editor

Use the (upper!) buttons "<" and ">" to move through the movie keyframe by keyframe. Holding your mouse button down will make it keep moving. Keep the "Ctrl" key pressed to jump in increments of 10 keyframes.

The commercials need to marked with the "[" (start) and "]" (stop) buttons.
You will notice that the start time (start of the commercial or other part you wish to remove) will be show in the "Start:" field. The stop time will be will be shown as well in the "Stop:" field.

Once you marked a commercial area, click the "Add" button so it will be added to the "Cut List:".

Repeat these steps until you filtered out all commercials.

Once you're done, click the "File" menu and choose the option "Save Cut List", or press CTRL+S. (A popup might confirm this)

Now click the "File" menu and select "Exit" (or press CTRL+X) to exit the GOP Editor.

Step 8: Creating an MPEG or VOB files

TyTools allows us to create either MPG files, or VOB files (for DVD).

Option 1: Creating MPEG 2 files

Select from the "File" menu the option "Multiplex File(s)".

A new window appears (it should look very familiar by now).
Select the file(s) you wish to process, and click the "Add" button.
The selected file(s) will now appear in the "Files to Process:" part of the window.

Now click the "Process" button.
The window will close and the main window of tyTools will now show the progress (as we have seen before).

This will convert the ty-file to a regular MPEG2 file. This goes relatively fast, and will right away cut the indicated clips (i.e. the commercials) from your movie (if you marked them using the GOP Editor).

These MPEG files are suitable to create an SVCD or DVD from.

The SVCD's can be created relatively simple using Nero Burning Rom.
Read the article How to burn a Super Video CD with Nero for more details.

DVD's is a bit more tricky as you will need DVD authoring software like TMPGEnc DVD Author (recommended) or DVDLab.

Option 2: Creating DVD files and menus

If you want to create DVD's and you don't care too much about the navigation menu of the DVD, then TyTools helps you out here as well. Note however that tools like TMPGEnc DVD Author (recommended) or DVDLab are a lot more flexible!

The process is similar to that of making MPEG 2 files.

Select from the "File" menu the option "VOB-Mux File(s)".

A new window appears (it should look very familiar by now).
Select the file(s) you wish to process, and click the "Add" button.
The selected file(s) will now appear in the "Files to Process:" part of the window.

Now click the "Process" button. The window will close and the main window of tyTools will now show the progress (as we have seen before).

This will convert the ty-file to a regular VOB file. Again; This goes relatively fast, and will right away cut the indicated clips (i.e. the commercials) from your movie.

The next step for building a DVD is to create the menu and merge all of it into proper IFO and VOB files.

From the "File" menu select "Create IFO Files/Dirs". A new window will appear. Looks familiar again, doesn't it?

Well here we select the VOB file(s) we created before, which we would like to include our DVD. Select them and use the "Add" button again to add them to the "Files to Process:" box. Make sure you add all the VOB's you wish to have on this DVD!
Once you're done adding the desired VOB's, click the "Process" button.

A new window - for menu editing - will open:

TyTools - The "Make Menu" window for editing your DVD menu

Follow these steps (you can play with the other options after doing these settings):

CREATE THE MENU BASE

In the field "Menu Title" (1) you can enter a title for this menu. For example "My DVD 1" or "Friends Episode 1-10" ... anything you like.
You can select a custom background by clicking the "V" (2) button in the "Background Bitmap" button. This will open a file dialog allowing you to select a JPG or BMP to be used as a background.

The options "Font", "Alignment", and "Misc" speak for them selves - it sets font characteristics for the menu title.

CREATE THE MENU ITEMS

Step 1: Select in the section "Menu Elements" (3) the first element. You will notice that in the "Element Title" field (4), the name of the selected element will appear. Enter the name you wish to see in your menu here. For example the movie or episode name.

Step 2: From the "VOB Link" drop down box (5) you can select which VOB file is to be linked to this item.

In the field "Chapter Points" you can set the type of sub chapters you want. I'd recommend starting with every 5 minutes.
The options "Font", "Alignment", and "Misc" speak for them selves - it sets font characteristics for the menu items.

Step 3: Click the "Set Item" (6) button, so the settings you just made for this menu item are stored. You will see the item your selected in Step 1 change in the "Menu Elements" box.

Repeat these 3 steps for all the items in the "Menu Elements" box.

SET THE PROPER DESTINATION FOLDER

Before we continue: set the destination folder for the DVD files by clicking the "V" button at the end of the "ISO Location" field.

PREVIEW MENU

TyTools offers the option to preview the menu you just made (limited edit options also limit creativity - but it works).

Click the "Preview" button to see it (press a key or click a mouse button to make it disappear again):

TyTools - DVD Menu preview

CREATE THE FILES

If you're happy with the menu, click "Make IFO". It will not take much time before tyTools reports "DVD successfully created!".

To prevent you make a too big of a DVD, click in the menu "Edit' the option "Vob Size Report".

TyTools uses DVDAuthor to render the files, so if you encounter issues here: it will most likely be DVDAuthor that is causing this.
Please save yourself some work; do not copy a newer version of DVDAuthor (which is a freeware DOS application) over these DVDAuthor files!

The resulting files can be found in the newly created "VIDEO_TS" folder.

You can burn the DVD using Nero burning rom. In Nero, create a new "DVD VIDEO" (set media type to DVD first, then select VIDEO, click the "New" button). In the window that opens, copy the files from the VIDEO_TS folder you just made to the folder "VIDEO_TS" in Nero and burn it to DVD.