$3500 in Bounties: TiVo and Neuros OSD Interoperability Project

[Lou Jacob]

DVRupgrade and Neuros are Proud To Offer The Following Bounties

Introduction

People love the TiVo DVR for its robust program guide and related features, and people love the OSD for the portability of its recordings. So, we've come up with a bounty for a project that combines the best of both devices. Namely for the OSD to piggyback on the TiVo's recording schedule and make portable MPEG-4 recordings of those shows that you choose. It's essentially like having TiVo simultaneously record onto a portable device at the same time that its recording to it's hard drive. With no file transfer or conversion, you could have all your favorite shows automatically on your laptop, iPod, iPhone, Blackberry or whatever portable device you prefer. Ultimately, this functionality would be perfect for commuters, road-warriors or anyone that spends their days on the go.

The Project

There are two bounties associated with this project. The first bounty relates to TiVo systems whose software cannot be easily modified and which also can be used with online services from TiVo and Yahoo for remote scheduling of recordings.

BOUNTY #1 - $1000

This part of the project relates to TiVo systems which can be remotely programmed from the TiVo web site in an area known as TiVo Central™ Online. If you have an active account with TiVo and any Series2 or Series3 DVR (you can identify your model here), you can schedule recordings on TiVo's web site, and your TiVo will ultimately receive the data and save your recordings. Similarly, Yahoo also offers a service to synchronize selections you make from their TV listings, to your TiVo.

What we'd like to see, in order to be eligible for the bounty, is an application or script for the Neuros OSD that will allow it to record and appropriately name your programs when your TiVo is recording. We think the key may be accessing your recording selections from your Yahoo or TiVo Central Online account, but that may not be necessary to achieve your objective. It also may be necessary to have an application running on your PC to import and export the data, but if that is the case, we'd like to see an application that runs on both the PC AND the Mac (JAVA, perhaps?). But to put it simply: The Neuros OSD will need to record what your TiVo records and possibly be able to do so, selectively.

BOUNTY #2 - $2500

This part of the project relates to all Series1 TiVo systems, or Series2 DirecTV TiVo system which have been have been modified for what we call advanced networking functions. Typically, this is done with things like TurboNet and CacheCard bundles on Series1 systems, and PTVnet on Series2 DirecTV TiVo systems, or even using free tools such as The Zipper. We won't go into great detail here, but some references will be provided below. To put it succinctly, if you have a TiVo DVR that has been modified so that you can access it via telnet, ftp, and most importantly, TiVoWebPlus, then you'll understand the next part of this bounty.

Similar to the goal of the first project, we'd like the OSD to record at the same time that your TiVo is recording. Since your modified TiVo will be running TiVoWebPlus, we'd like to see a module for TiVoWebPlus that is easy to install, configure and use, and that will allow a user to select which Season Passes should also be recorded on the OSD. We'd also like to see provisions made so that other items, such as TiVo Suggestions, or manual recordings in the To Do list are also taken into consideration.

Although it is expected that some software may need to be initially installed and configured on the Neuros OSD, we'd like to see the solution to this problem be TiVo-centric enough so that a user can interact with TiVoWebPlus to make changes that are ultimately received by (or transmitted to) the Neuros OSD. This will allow users who are remotely accessing their TiVo units, whether from their desktops, or by using the GoToMyDVR service for remote access to their TiVo, the ability to choose what to record on their OSD.


Summary

We think there are a variety of ways to solve both of these problems, and are happy to provide additional details and answers to architectural questions that will help to solve the problem, however in order to qualify for the bounty, you need to solve the problems in your own way. We'd like to see a clean, documented and reliable approach to solving the problem which includes taking to account factors such as

• setup and configuration issues on both the Neuros OSD and the TiVo
• scheduling conflicts / priorities
• file naming conventions
• specifying the target device
• error handling, etc

We may expand the list of requirement as the details become more apparent, and relevant details emerge, however the scope of the project will remain the same and fundamentally simple:

We want to see your OSD recording, hand-in-hand with your TiVo so you can enjoy your content on-the-go!

Support Information

As promised, here are links to a variety of resources we think you may find useful:

TiVoCommunity and the TiVo Community Underground Playground
A place you can find out about pretty much anything and everything associated with TiVo in general, as well as TiVo modifications. These forums represent the largest concentration of users and developers, anywhere.

DealDatabase
A smaller, but extremely useful TiVo modification forum. Many advanced users congregate there and develop and share some very technical details about the TiVo's innards. Its not a place for newbie questions, but if you are technical and patient, much can be learned at DealDatabase.

DVRupgrade
The creators of the very first commercial services for upgrading and extending the functionality of TiVo DVRs. A great place learn more about your TiVo and what can be done with it. Also a great place to get started if you need your TiVo upgraded or networked and don't have the experience or skill to do it yourself. DVRupgrade is also a reseller of the Neuros OSD.

DVRupgrade Support Forums
These forums are another free resource for TiVo upgraders and enthusiasts. It is still relatively new but contains lots of useful information on TiVo networking and the use of DVRupgrade's products and tools for implementing it.

Neuros
The creators of the OSD and other MPEG-4 recording devices. Neuros is a pioneer in the industry in many ways. First and foremost, they share the vision of enjoying your content anywhere you want. Neuros is an open source company and officially supports the work of community developers and accepting their contributions in the official releases.

Neuros Community
A variety of community resources include a forum for Neuros' users to gather, share information, and learn the ins and outs of Neuros products, as well as links to development resources including a Wiki. If you are an IRC users, real-time discussion occurs on #neuros at irc.freenode.net.


Rules

1. This is a joint project sponsored by both DVRupgrade and Neuros Technology. These bounties are intended to be a community-style thing that is just a modest way to put a little money back into the hands of the Neuros and TiVo Community as a token of appreciation for your support. We hope and expect for people to collaborate, split bounties and credit, and share information, openly discuss, etc. The deliverables and rules are somewhat vague and the interpretation is completely subject to the whim of the selection committee. In short, its not necessarily an appropriate way for you to put food on your family's table. With that in mind, if you are primarily interested in making money for hacking, please just contact either company, and we can talk about serious contract opportunities. We have such opportunities available on a project basis.
2. All code generated must be licensed under GPL (or LGPL or GPL compatible licenses as appropriate). You are allowed to use code from other GPL projects, but please obey the wishes of the authors. Please note that although Neuros' code is GPL, they do link to proprietary modules for the OSD implementation, and this is not OK with some free software authors. Also, if it works, Neuros and DVRupgrade intend to implement this code on our production product. Make sure the authors are cool with this too. Please respect their wishes.
3. The judgment of the bounty committee is final. They might decide a bounty should not be issued at all, or split or something else. They will interpret the words "work," "usable," etc. Usable might mean that they can use it, it might mean that their parents can use it. The bounty committee will consists of various luminaries from the Neuros and DVRupgrade organizations, as well as the thoughts and opinions of those participating in the community. In addition to the actual bounties, there may also be awards of additional amounts, swag, devices, etc. We really want to encourage people openly participate, create, influence, test, discuss and assess. From this, everyone should benefit.
4. It should go without saying that we are attempting to foster goodwill, not just with our communities and our customers, but with our partners, as well. More specifically, we are not encouraging anyone to violate any pre-existing agreements. Even more specifically, hacking of TiVo's guide data, Yahoo's portal, etc is not what we have in mind. Using what you have access to, and within the terms of service associated with whatever tools or services you are using, is exactly what we have in mind. Again, its about creativity, and honor. [group hug]

And with that, let the hacking commence!

[Lou Jacob]

reserved for future use

[Lou Jacob]

One more thing...

... a special offer for bounty hunters (and anyone else) interested in purchasing an OSD to get started:

$30 off the OSD using this coupon code: HACK-THE-NEUROS-1207

The code will work when purchasing the OSD ala carte from our site, or from either of the TiVo & OSD bundles we recently announced.

Happy Hacking!

Lou

[santa8claws]

So, looking at this bounty request, it seems there is $$$ demand for a solution which takes the Tivo recordings and converts them to MP4?

Isn't this exactly what Etivo does? It has all the features requested with the obvious exception that it is PC based, and does not use a Neuros.

Similarly, it seems that what the Neuros does is record from analog input to MP4 onto some external USB media, so (rehtorical question) why do you need your Tivo at all? Well, obviously the Neuros doesn't have any kind of TV listings or program scheduling. To me it seems that a Toshiba Tivo DVD recorder bridges this gap and records straight to DVD-Rs. But as is, this device is just a digital "VCR" with networked/attached media playback capabilities.

If Neuros could take the user friendly interface of Tivo or mythtv, combined with TV listings (XMLTV?), it would be a serious Tivo competititor with an open platform media center. I think it has serious potential as a standalone media center, but needs some software development.

Then again, isn't the MPAA going to close this analog hole?

[Lou Jacob]

Originally Posted by santa8claws

So, looking at this bounty request, it seems there is $$$ demand for a solution which takes the Tivo recordings and converts them to MP4?

The OSD records in MPEG4 from its analog inputs. The source of the signal can be the analog output of a TiVo, or any other DVR or any other playback device (VCR, DVD player, etc).

Isn't this exactly what Etivo does? It has all the features requested with the obvious exception that it is PC based, and does not use a Neuros.

Really not sure, but that is neither here nor there; the bounty we are discussing is related to integration of the TiVo and the Neuros OSD. If "Etivo" is part of that solution, then so be it, but its not clear why that might or might not be a good idea.

Similarly, it seems that what the Neuros does is record from analog input to MP4 onto some external USB media, so (rehtorical question) why do you need your Tivo at all? Well, obviously the Neuros doesn't have any kind of TV listings or program scheduling. To me it seems that a Toshiba Tivo DVD recorder bridges this gap and records straight to DVD-Rs. But as is, this device is just a digital "VCR" with networked/attached media playback capabilities.

If Neuros could take the user friendly interface of Tivo or mythtv, combined with TV listings (XMLTV?), it would be a serious Tivo competititor with an open platform media center. I think it has serious potential as a standalone media center, but needs some software development.

Then again, isn't the MPAA going to close this analog hole?

Well, to answer your first rhetorical question, you'd need a TiVo if you plan on going for the bounty...

As for your other comments/questions; might be a good topic for discussion over a beer, but again, the issue here is now to get the OSD and TiVo working together more efficiently so that one doesn't have to manually program the Neuros OSD for each recording it needs to make from the TiVo, itself. Its really not a question of getting the Neuros OSD to replace a TiVo and certainly not within the scope or spirit of the bounty to position it as a competitor to TiVo - I think that would be a stretch by any definition.

[VictoriaPucinscki]

thank you for the informative post and keep up the good work!