Rating: 
Summary: Series 1 or Series 2?
Review: The book seems well written, however it REALLY only pertains to series 1. Many of the hacks for series 2 are forewarned as "try at you own risk". Since series 1 are no longer made (unless you scrounge e-bay), most people will be buying the series 2. The majority of these will probably be Direct TV Tivos, which the author states are the most hack proof. The book was probably great when it first came out, but much like the playstation mod chips of a few years back, its obsolete. A newer edition is badly needed.
Rating: 
Summary: confused
Review: The first thing I see when I open the book is that it is not intended to work on series 2, and that most will not work on this. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Then I read some other reviews, and they say it does. So who do I believe-the author or the reviewers. I will just have to try some and see.
If the enclosed cd actually makes it easy to put in a second or bigger drive, the price is a little easier to take.
Rating: 
Summary: Only applies to Series 1
Review: The hacks in this book generally only apply to Series 1 TiVos, which are no longer made.
Rating: 
Summary: Making DVDs of your Tivo recordings
Review: The Series 1 is still very much alive. It is the most hackable tivo and has the most extra features/programs you can add to it (like Tivo Control Station). And, since they are VERY reliable, you can find many of them cheap on Ebay. I just bought another one off Ebay to handle recording conflicts.The Tivo user community has developed most of the hacks that any of these books use (i.e., Von Hagen's book). Jeff Keegan has been an active participant in the community and gives credit to the people responsible for the hacks. I know Von Hagen has not been an active participant and I am not sure in his book whether he gives proper credit or not. I understand some community members reviewed the book though prior to it being published. Jeff knows his stuff. His publisher threw out the Series 2 hack due to litigation concerns. Von Hagen was able to include it. It doesn't make Von Hagen's book better. And, the hack that was thrown out can be found on the web as well as a full step-by-step install document. So here are my thoughts: If you have a series 1: Buy this book. If you have a series 2 and want to explore all that is available for it and learn to hack on your own: Buy this book and find the cross-compiler and main hack information on the web. Or buy the Von Hagen book for the extra Series 2 information and this book for the extra programming and hack information. If you have a series 2 and just want to upgrade your hard drive: This book is fine for that. I used the web for my upgrade instructions and I found that this book actually covered some things I didn't know that may save someone from damaging their hard drive. This is a great book. The CD is very well put together with its own install script for EITHER series 1 or 2. There is a wealth of information for any Tivo user or programmer/hacker or tinkerer/enthusiast. For Series 1 it is a no-brainer. For Series 2, either get Von Hagen's book in addition to this one or find the few pieces of missing information on the Tivo community forums.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a great book, for any series
Review: The Series 1 is still very much alive. It is the most hackable tivo and has the most extra features/programs you can add to it (like Tivo Control Station). And, since they are VERY reliable, you can find many of them cheap on Ebay. I just bought another one off Ebay to handle recording conflicts. The Tivo user community has developed most of the hacks that any of these books use (i.e., Von Hagen's book). Jeff Keegan has been an active participant in the community and gives credit to the people responsible for the hacks. I know Von Hagen has not been an active participant and I am not sure in his book whether he gives proper credit or not. I understand some community members reviewed the book though prior to it being published. Jeff knows his stuff. His publisher threw out the Series 2 hack due to litigation concerns. Von Hagen was able to include it. It doesn't make Von Hagen's book better. And, the hack that was thrown out can be found on the web as well as a full step-by-step install document. So here are my thoughts: If you have a series 1: Buy this book. If you have a series 2 and want to explore all that is available for it and learn to hack on your own: Buy this book and find the cross-compiler and main hack information on the web. Or buy the Von Hagen book for the extra Series 2 information and this book for the extra programming and hack information. If you have a series 2 and just want to upgrade your hard drive: This book is fine for that. I used the web for my upgrade instructions and I found that this book actually covered some things I didn't know that may save someone from damaging their hard drive. This is a great book. The CD is very well put together with its own install script for EITHER series 1 or 2. There is a wealth of information for any Tivo user or programmer/hacker or tinkerer/enthusiast. For Series 1 it is a no-brainer. For Series 2, either get Von Hagen's book in addition to this one or find the few pieces of missing information on the Tivo community forums.
Rating:
Summary: Massive expansion
Review: The Tivo has spawned a dedicated fan base that speaks to both the power of the TV [including cable] and of TiVo's time shifting usefulness. Naturally, many fans quickly reached the limitations of a normal TiVo and have chafed at these. Now comes Keegan with this book on how to lift many constraints.
He explains several neat tricks. But perhaps the most useful is simply to increase the storage capacity. A default TiVo holds 14 hours at a basic quality of resolution. But a TiVo is really a special purpose computer. So just like you can add more disk space to a generic PC, so too can this be done to a TiVo. But there are many fine details that are specific to TiVo, and indeed to specific models. He gives you all the necessary help to build out your TiVo.
Why? In his experience, when you expand from 14 hours to 110 hour by adding an 80 Gb disk, there is a qualitative improvement in your usage. And this is for an 80 Gb disk. Keep in mind that as 200 Gb+ disks come on the market, you could potentially use his guidelines here to try installing those!
Some of you should appreciate this book.
Rating:
Summary: Series 2 Owners Beware!!!!
Review: This book is great if you have one of the old machines that non one seels any more, but it's worthless forthe owner of a new TiVo. The author obviously knows what he's talking aboiut, but it doesn't matter any more. I sent this back and bought the Von Hagen book, which had the Series @ and tall of the old Series 1 info.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome - and it DOES work for Series 2
Review: This is absolutely the best coverage I have seen of hacking this great consumer device. I am not new to this - I have been playing with my beloved TiVo for a few months now, and it is really nice to have all the information in one place without having to bounce all over the web looking for hints and tips. The Author absolutely loves this stuff, and his enthusiasm is contagous. It literally jumps off the page at you, and is peppered with cool stories about his life with TiVo. It includes all the hacks you would imagine are there - upgrading hard drives, backdoor codes, caller id, instant messaging, etc. But this is the very best I have seen TCS covered, and is worth the price of the book alone. Whats more, the CD is the easiest to use I have found yet, having purchased several TiVo hacks CDs on the internet. I would recommend you use the "install all" option, which puts all the hacks on your TiVo in one step - something I have not found anywhere else. The last parts are about writing your own hacks. Turns out the guy wrote parts of TiVoWeb that can be used to connect and control your TiVo from the web, and you can tell he really understands what he is doing. Now just to set the record straight once and for all - these hacks WILL work on Series 2. But, you Series 2 owners will have to do a little extra work to access your device. If you are serious about doing that, you will find it - its out there. Once you do that, most of the hacks work on Series 2. To be very specific, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are all useful to Series 2 users (with 1,2,3,14 useful right away, and 6,7,11,12,13,15 useful after you do the little extra work for Series 2. And if you happen to be one of us who have a Series 1 TiVo this book is going to blow your mind! Heck, the chapters on upgrading your hard disk space (which works with either Series 1 or 2 WITHOUT any extra work) is worth the price of the book alone, not to mention the CD ROM which contains the tools you need INCLUDING several Series 2 binaries. You can easily spend $10 on a much lesser CD on the web. Lets all face it - hacking your TiVo is not trivial, and its not necessarily easy. But it is worth it. But dont go into it thinking its as easy as simply installing some software. You are going to need to be patient, make sure you do all your backups, and have some fun. If you have a TiVo - you need this book.
Rating:
Summary: Making your home gadgets even more useful!
Review: This is when i got the book. It showed me tivo, but I already bought a tivo, but this book showed me the tricks so I said Ok, then this book showed how to make your tivo do things. all sorts of neat things. then this book had some drawings, and the guy who wrote it, put his name on the cover. I wanted my name since it was my book and not his. I bet he could afford lots of books since he wrote this one, but no one is buying because he signs his name all over them. hey autor, ever heard of personal property, it's ninth tenths precent of the law. but i loved the hacks and the book anyways, no other qualms.
Rating:
Summary: Very Limited Usefulness
Review: This really is not a book on Hacking Tivo, rather a book on "Hacking First Generation Tivo's." I have a series 2 DVR and expected to see some hacks that would prove worthwhile for my DVR, however there is little for owners of Tivos manufactured in the last two years. Very simple recommendation-if you have a first generation Tivo buy the book, otherwise pass.
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