Rating: 
Summary: Take exception to one reviewers comments
Review: I haven't read the book yet so I can't comment on the book itself but I do want to point out that I tried the smc2208usb/eth ez connect Usb adaptor on my series 2 and it worked like a charm. No fuss no mess no problem. Tivo recognized it instantly.
Rating: 
Summary: Making DVDs of your Tivo recordings
Review: I haven't read this book, but have been actively reading the reviews of it, as well as other Tivo "hack" books. One theme that seems to continually run through the reviews is that someone wants to burn their Tivo recordings to DVD. If you're one of those people and you have a PC, read on, otherwise this posting will be a waste of your time.I use a product called Pinnacle Studio 9 AV/DV (Analog video/Digital Video) to accomplish burning Tivo recordings to DVD. It works great and you can even edit out all of the commercials...which is superior to fast forwarding through them. This product can be purchased right here on Amazon...at the best price I've seen. Of course, you'll need a DVD burner, but you'd need that to burn DVDs either way. The quality is quite good. I see no reason that this solution wouldn't work for any series Tivo 1 or 2, including DirecTV Tivo. Hope this is helpful to someone.
Rating: 
Summary: Works on my Series 2
Review: I just started considering the whole hacking my TiVo thing about 2 months ago, and I had been using the web for most of my information. I got a little fed up with trying to track down everything online and keeping track of my favorites so I decided to break down and go for a book. I purchased this one, and the TiVo Hacks book, and this one is by far the better of the 2. I saw that using this book with Series 2 had mixed reivews, and I was not convinced. Now that I have read the book, I can tell that most of the hacks will work on Series 2, but you have to be saavy enough to read between the lines a little, and take the hints to find out how to get access to your Series 2 box. Its already out there, and I suppose the book didnt cover it because of all the legal stuff, but it is certainly not a secret. Once you do that, you are home free for the most part, and the book really makes it as easy as it can be. I say that because hacking TiVo is not easy - its takes some skill, and some confidence to try some new stuff. If you are afraid you are going to hurt your machine, dont do it. But if you, like me arent afraid to tinker a little, you can do it with some help provided in books like this one and the online community. Having said that MAKE YOUR BACKUPS! The CD ROM is very good, easy to use, and comes with almost all of the hacks for the Series 1s, and some of the Series 2 binaries. For the stuff that doesnt come with Series 2 binaries, the source code is usually included and you just need to recompile. The last part of the book covers writing your own hacks, and even if you dont want to do that you can use it to learn to recompile source, which is what I did. The book is extremely well written and understandable, and like I said the best of the 2 I purchased. But if you think, like it seems some readers have, that you can just buy a book and pop in a CD to create some uberTiVo instantly and with no effort - forget it. No book or website will do that. However, with this book, and 3 nights after work, I had everything I needed to hack my box. If you are interested in hacking your TiVo, take a deep breath, commit yourself to taking the time to learn to do it, and buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: It ain't that simple... but still a good book
Review: I might be advertising myself a moron but this book needed to be a little more simple than it was. Hacking your Tivo isn't that easy. I've been on computers since age six and I built my last two computers but I felt this needed a little dumbing down for me. In upgrading to a larger hard drive I was expecting more of a step by step process for installing another hard drive but instead the author used a lot of technical terms and just assumed everyone would be onboard with him. If "If you have a B drive in your configuration, connect it to the secondary IDE bus as a slave" makes perfect sense to you, feel free to buy this book. (...).
Rating:
Summary: Not for TIVO Series 2! Only for Series 1
Review: I ordered this book on the premise that I would research about Tivo and expanding a Tivo's features. ( I don't yet have a Tivo) Much to my suprise on page 18 the author states that much of the info in the book applies ONLY to a Series 1. Further more he does not even state this fact on the cover nor the brief on the back! I am contemplating returning the book. If I were to use the ideas and features of the book I would have to buy a used Tivo from Ebay. Series 1 boxes are not sold anymore. If this book(published in December 2003 but with a 2004 copyright) came out 2-3 years ago, then it would be a best seller. How disappointing! I'm glad I did'nt have to pay shipping on this crap.
Rating: 
Summary: Major Disappointment
Review: I was so excited when Hacking TiVo came to my door. First would be playing with the back door functions. Oops, you have the latest software version 4.01? Sorry, we only have codes up to 3.0. Go search the web and maybe you'll find the new ones. Ok, well I really wanted to use the video extraction function-save programs from the TiVo hard drive and burn them to a disc. Oops, you have a series 2 TiVo? Sorry, everything we discuss in the book deals with series 1. Series 2 have data encryption. My gripe is, as with all advertising, the object naturally is to sell the product. Well, Amazon got my 20 bucks, Mr. Keegan got his share and I'm stuck with a book that tells me nothing that I couldn't find on the web. If the advertising or a review mentioned that the majority of the book dealt with version 1 Tivo's, I could have spent the money on something useful-like 2 months of TiVo service.
Rating:
Summary: It does cover 4.0.1 - and these hacks can work on Series 2
Review: I'm afraid I have to disagree with reviewer cosber. Perhaps that reviewer hasn't read the book closely enough. In chapter 2 (beginning on page 57) the author explains in great detail how to enable backdoor mode for the newer TiVos by modifying the disk directly. That lets anyone running any version of the TiVo software (including 4.0 and 4.01) access backdoor mode. Furthermore, there aren't any backdoors specific to 4.0 or 4.01, except the Free Space Indicator code which the book does cover (on page 53.) And the hacks in the book WILL work on Series 2 - once you get access to it. That is not covered in the book for what the author calls "legal reasons." I have found the book extremely valuable, and well worth the effort. I was not at all confused by the instructions or the author's style, and have been able to complete each hack I have attempted with the book so far. This hobby takes some effort - it is not easy, but it is not impossible either, and this book certainly provides the guidance you need.
Rating:
Summary: Money VERY well spent & written for novices & experts alike
Review: I've been a regular customer of Amazon's from the day they opened their virtual doors way back in the 20th Century :) Having said that, this is the first time I have felt compelled to write a "review" for a book that is worth its weight in Gold - in fact, Gold cannot measure this book, so dare I say it's priceless? Come to think of it, this would make a very touching MasterCard commercial that would certainly leave the entire TiVo community teary-eyed..
I have been in the I.T. industry since 1984, and have been an avid user of Linux (the operating system that runs TiVo) since '98. To be completely honest, Linux 'can' be quite intimidating the first time you get the courage to venture beyond the "DarkSide" (aka: Microsoft Windows)!
**Rest assured** The author, Jeff Keegan, does an outstanding job of writing this book in a way that BEGINNERS & EXPERTS alike can relate.
In my humble opinion, the only 2 things that YOU-the-READER will need to have are: A Passion for Technology and the Desire to Learn how to "tinker"; if you have at least one or both of these, then what are you waiting for? Order it already! Incidentally, there is actually a 3rd characteristic the reader MUST have, but I assume you wouldn't be reading this if you don't fall under this third-one - You better be a TiVo ADDICT, JUNKIE, AFICIONADO, -or- GEEK, that can't imagine what life was like before TiVo found it's way to your home and your heart. And after you read my passionate review, I hope Hacking TiVo will find a way to your bookshelf. Heck, do your fellow TiVo-Friends a favor, and make sure you buy them all a copy that ends up under their Christmas trees too! Those of you with Children, make sure and pencil this book in on their 'Christmas List' and don't forget to Coach them on exactly what-to-say when they go see Santa and he asks them what they want MOST for Christmas! If they "slip-up" and just ask for TiVo (and not this TiVo book/masterpiece), no sweat, it never hurts to hook up one in the Bathroom or in a weather-proof enclosure on the back or front porch! Now back to the review... Now that I've described who this book is best suited for, on to the GOOD STUFF
Here are just a few (of the countless) things the book will help you accomplish; these happen to rank as some of the coolest. However, with a hearty thanks to Mr. Keegan, these four highlights barely scratch the surface of what you'll find within these 500 pages and the companion CD. 1) How does increasing your (basic) storage capacity from your current, 14, 20, 40, or 80hr unit to a whopping 175-275hrs sound? All it takes is a little time & money and it's as easy as 1,2,3 !! 2) How would you like to sit on the couch watching your favorite program on TiVo and not have to move a muscle when someone bugs, er...I mean calls you on the telephone? No problem, with a little work, TiVo will be happy to "pop-up" a handy caller ID message on the TV so you can decide if you want to take the call or let Mr. Answering Machine save the day. 3) Do you have a Home Network and need some extra storage space? In no time, the Mr. Keegan will walk you through setting up TiVo to act like a File Server! Also, through your home network, TiVo can back itself up on almost any workstation/server on your network, regardless of their operating system(s) (like Windows, OS X, various Unix flavors, as well as various Linux flavors too) ; this means if TiVo 'dies' or looses/deletes the most important episode of Friends, ever - fear not, you can restore that oh-so-important 30-minutes back to your TiVo right away! 4) My final highlight stems from the "Save to VCR option." What if I told you the author shows you how to either save your shows to a PC (or Mac) to watch on your computer? Better still, the author outlines how to make your own DVD of what once was saved on TiVo, and is now on your PC or Mac! (Incidentally, there is a new TiVo/DVD-Recorder coming soon - late 2003, but my guess is that it will cost a lot of $$$ AND have restrictions in place that will only let you burn certain recordings) Never fear, Hollywood can't tell you what you can or cannot do when it's on your computer :) As you can tell, if Amazon would let me, I'd go on and on by singing the praises of not only this book, but the inspiration behind it all, that being TiVo, of course!
A BIG thank-you to Mr. Jeff Keegan on putting together 500 wonderful pages that I will continue to use again & again, at least until the 2nd edition is released! Happy TiVo-ing & I hope my first review will be of assistance!
Kevin from Chicagoland
A Tivo Addict Going On 5+ Years and Darn Proud Of It...
Rating:
Summary: basically worthless for series 2 users
Review: If you have a series 2 TiVo, don't bother buying this book, because most of the things discussed pertain to series 1. A series 2 is much more difficult to hack unless you know what you are doing, AND series 2 has a lot of the features that you gain by hacking a series 1.
Rating:
Summary: Mainly applicable to the obsolite Type 1 TiVos
Review: If you have a Type 2 TiVo, this book will not be of much use. Anything you need to accomplish on a Type 2 TiVo can be found on the internet at www.tivocommunity.com. Having noted the above, the book is well laid out and written in an easy to understand fashion. Although I am clearly disappointed that this obsolete book is marketed as though it is relevant to the current generation of TiVos, I would be willing to look at future books by the author.
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