Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

kman42 · Jan 8, 2003, 06:09 PM

Check this out:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/jaguar/rendezvous.html

TiVo
?TiVo?s upcoming premium service package will use Rendezvous technology to automatically discover Macintosh computers within the home network and determine which services they provide, allowing customers to listen to their shared music or view their shared photos on their TV,? said Jim Barton, Co-founder and CTO for TiVo. ?We are excited about working with Apple on other ways Rendezvous can help TiVo Series2 DVRs connect to a Mac to deliver future services.?

Playing iTunes MP3s!!! iPhoto Slideshows!!!

This discussion indicates that the announcement for the enhanced TiVo service will be tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I think it will require the Rendezvous iTunes which wasn't announced yesterday, but perhaps it will come along in the next couple of months.

Can you say iStereo? iSet-top box? New Digital LIfestyle Device?

I'm already planning on upgrading to TiVo Series 2 if this happens soon.

Sorry, the boards are choking and didn't pick up my actual post.

kman

Arty50 · Jan 8, 2003, 07:44 PM

Originally posted by kman42:
Unfortunately, I think it will require the Rendezvous iTunes which wasn't announced yesterday, but perhaps it will come along in the next couple of months.

Actually, I believe iTunes 3 is ready to go.

kman42 · Jan 8, 2003, 10:20 PM

Originally posted by Arty50:
Actually, I believe iTunes 3 is ready to go.

iTunes 3 has been out for quite some time, but it doesn't have Rendezvous support in it. Since Apple appears to be including iTunes 3 in iLife, it looks like we are still quite a ways off.

kman

DigitalEl · Jan 8, 2003, 11:19 PM

I never payed attention to Rendezvous talk 'til now. I have a Series 2 TiVo DVR already and the 700 Mhz Combo-Drive iMac G4. What else will I need?

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 8, 2003, 11:23 PM

Originally posted by kman42:
iTunes 3 has been out for quite some time, but it doesn't have Rendezvous support in it. Since Apple appears to be including iTunes 3 in iLife, it looks like we are still quite a ways off.

kman

Exactly.

justinkim · Jan 9, 2003, 12:36 AM

Bringing your photos to your TV or playing your iTunes library through the TiVo is cool but not all that compelling. IMHO, what would be really cool is if you could stream video from the TiVo to your Mac.

-Q- · Jan 9, 2003, 09:01 AM

Originally posted by justinkim:
Bringing your photos to your TV or playing your iTunes library through the TiVo is cool but not all that compelling. IMHO, what would be really cool is if you could stream video from the TiVo to your Mac.

That's what I was hoping for with that announcement. I'd love to be able to download some video to my mac, even if it is only streaming, as there's no TV in my office.

But if it works with my iTunes playlist, I'll be pretty happy.

kman42 · Jan 9, 2003, 09:36 AM

Originally posted by justinkim:
Bringing your photos to your TV or playing your iTunes library through the TiVo is cool but not all that compelling. IMHO, what would be really cool is if you could stream video from the TiVo to your Mac.

TiVos currently only have USB connectors. Go figure, but there is no ethernet port. You have to use a USB-ethernet adaptor making it highly unlikely that you could stream video in either direction.

That limitation aside, this is great news for Apple as it shows the way that computer-TV/stereo integration should be done: inexpensively and seemlessly (via Rendezvous). MS has chosen exactly the wrong approach with their WMC (except for the incredibly small market of dorm rooms, maybe).

With Philips coming online this year, I'm sure others will follow.

kman

ReefHobbyist · Jan 9, 2003, 12:10 PM

This sounds like it could have potential for some cool integration. If only TiVo would include an 802.11g wireless card inside (as an option?) I would jump on it.

They could use Rendezvous to auto-discover other TiVo's in the house and share recorded programs easily.

Scott

BTP · Jan 9, 2003, 02:54 PM

Hmm.. Well you can add wireless 802.11 to Tivo. Go to 9th Tee.

I have upgraded my DirecTivo from 40 hours to 150 hours and I just bought the 10/100 ethernet adapter. I'll be backing up some of the recordings on my database server and wireless will be too slow (for now no 802.1g). Oh, and I used my Mac to do to bless the 2nd hard drive.

Mac tivo Blesser

After I get the ethernet installed, I'll see if Rendevous works. I have the latest software, same as the series 2, so I wonder if it will work...

I can't wait to use Tivoferkey!

kman42 · Jan 9, 2003, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by BTP:
Hmm.. Well you can add wireless 802.11 to Tivo. Go to 9th Tee.

I have upgraded my DirecTivo from 40 hours to 150 hours and I just bought the 10/100 ethernet adapter. I'll be backing up some of the recordings on my database server and wireless will be too slow (for now no 802.1g). Oh, and I used my Mac to do to bless the 2nd hard drive.

Mac tivo Blesser

After I get the ethernet installed, I'll see if Rendevous works. I have the latest software, same as the series 2, so I wonder if it will work...

I can't wait to use Tivoferkey!

How did you get the series 2 software on your machine? I have a series 1 and just assumed I would have to get a new machine, but if I can hack my current one to have the series 2 software, that would work for me.

kman

BTP · Jan 9, 2003, 03:15 PM

Well, I shoud have said that I *think* I have the same software as Series 2, and I based that on reading the tivocommunity.com forums some weeks back.. DirecTV just gave me the software version 3.x, which gives me ethernet support. So I can install the ethernet adapter and I can connect my Tivo to my home network (via DHCP from my router). If I want to enable other services, like FTP, Tivoweb, etc, a bit of software work is needed. I will be doing that, as I have the slowdown issue (which I can fix with some of the partition tools, MFSTools?) and while I am taking my tivo apart....

I will go back and read the tivocommunity.com forums to see if I can get a solid answer. I recall reading something to the effect that there was not too much difference between the series 1 and series 2, save that 2 had a network connector and updated software, and that a Series 1 with a network adapter will fucnction much the same as a series 2. I will have to confirm this, but since I will be installing the card in my Tivo and I have the latest software (3.1), I'll find out first-hand next week.

Caveat: I upgraded my Tivo a year ago. I have spent only a small amout of time reading up on Tivo since then and I could be way off.

ReefHobbyist · Jan 9, 2003, 04:08 PM

Originally posted by BTP:
Hmm.. Well you can add wireless 802.11 to Tivo. Go to 9th Tee.

I have upgraded my DirecTivo from 40 hours to 150 hours and I just bought the 10/100 ethernet adapter. I'll be backing up some of the recordings on my database server and wireless will be too slow (for now no 802.1g). Oh, and I used my Mac to do to bless the 2nd hard drive.

Mac tivo Blesser

After I get the ethernet installed, I'll see if Rendevous works. I have the latest software, same as the series 2, so I wonder if it will work...

I can't wait to use Tivoferkey!

I was looking into upgrading my Directv TiVo Series 1 with an additional drive and 802.11b a while back using the software above but it requires connecting the drive to my mac. Since it is an IDE drive and I have an iMac without external IDE connections I didn't think I would be able to. Is there a way to connect a TiVo compatible IDE drive through the Firewire port with some type of addaptor?

Also, can a wireless card added to TiVo be set up to use DHCP and 10.0.1.x IP settings (Airport)?

Thanks,
Scott

BTP · Jan 9, 2003, 04:19 PM

Scott,

Well, you could maybe use FW case like the $59 ADS Pyro at MacSales, but I have never tried it. Essentially, it is a IDE to Firewire bridge, so who knows? You might ask the author of MacBlesser. What kind of Mac do you have? I just hooked a 120GB HD to my G4 tower, ran the Tivo Blesser and installed th HD in my Tivo. Aside from the slow menus ( a few extra seconds), this was fast and easy. If you can hook up the IDE HD to your mac, it is *really fast* and you wouldn't need it hooked up for long. I understand there are a few models that would make this difficult, like a laptop.

Good luck.

kman42 · Jan 9, 2003, 05:35 PM

www.tivo.com/ces

All the new info is available at that site.

It looks like iTunes/Rendezvous and iPhoto/Rendezvous will be coming out in April to support this. Cool.

kman

clarkgoble · Jan 9, 2003, 06:04 PM

If you have a ReplayTV PVR then you can pretty much easily control it right now and copy the video files to your Mac. I've not used this, but after seeing it in a Slashdot discussion am thinking of maybe going this way.

http://replaypc.sourceforge.net/

BTP · Jan 9, 2003, 09:25 PM

I can't say much good or bad about the Replay TV, but Tivo has a huge community support network.

Two places to look at off the top of my head:

tivo.samba.org
www.tivocommunity.com

Give Tivo a long look too.

kman42 · Jan 10, 2003, 09:35 AM

You can buy a factory refurbished TiVo Series 2 with 60 hours of recording capacity for $150 by calling 1-877-BUY-TIVO!!!! Check it out at the TiVo web site.

If you have ever thought about getting TiVo, this is an incredible price for a great unit and it is completely compatible with the new services coming in April (music and pictures).

I just picked one up to replace my series 1 recorder. If you are interested, you should probably jump on it soon.

kman

ReefHobbyist · Jan 10, 2003, 09:39 AM

Originally posted by BTP:
Scott,

Well, you could maybe use FW case like the $59 ADS Pyro at MacSales, but I have never tried it. Essentially, it is a IDE to Firewire bridge, so who knows? You might ask the author of MacBlesser. What kind of Mac do you have? I just hooked a 120GB HD to my G4 tower, ran the Tivo Blesser and installed th HD in my Tivo. Aside from the slow menus ( a few extra seconds), this was fast and easy. If you can hook up the IDE HD to your mac, it is *really fast* and you wouldn't need it hooked up for long. I understand there are a few models that would make this difficult, like a laptop.

Good luck.

I have a 15" flat panel iMac. Not really designed to add thing internal. Purhaps there is an unused IDE prot inside but would require disassembly.

Thanks for your response.
Scott

BTP · Jan 10, 2003, 10:28 AM

Scott,

That would be a difficult one to put an external HD into! You don't want to go into disassembly of your iMac for this.. Find a friend with a desktop, that'll make things easier. You stil might have luck with the Firewire HD case, but again, I'd drop a note to the author of BlessTivo first.

kman42 · Jan 11, 2003, 10:09 AM

Here's a response from a guy who works in TiVo marketing that directly relates to the NEW VERSION OF ITUNES:

The new iTunes version we're using here has the support built right in.

By the way, our sharing technology is not built on Rendezvous, but is compatible with Rendezvous for Macs. The technology is proprietary to TiVo, and developed by TiVo.

Pony

__________________
TiVo Product Marketing

Here's what he was responding to:

Originally posted by dricci
I know the new features will use Rendezvous, but will the TiVo be able to communicate directly to the iLife Applications, for example browse my iPhoto Libraries or get my iTunes playlists directly from my machine, or will we have to use a proprietary TiVo application?

Since the TiVo update is do in April, I think it is a safe bet that iTunes 4 will also be available in April.

beb · Jan 11, 2003, 12:51 PM

What I wish is that my iMac could share my Tivo's satellite for an internet connection -it would be far faster than my Earthlink dialup.

kman42 · Jan 11, 2003, 09:51 PM

Check out TiVo showing pics from iPhoto and music from iTunes:

Given that it says "Connect to server manually" at the bottom, I would say that iPhoto is Rendezvous-enabled in this setup.

It could be just the file sharing that is enabled and this is a hard-wired link to the iPhoto directory. Hard to know, I guess.

note the .local name.

There are some other interesting photos on this guy's site.

kman

Nebagakid · Jan 11, 2003, 10:24 PM

that is really really cool, I think this is the beginning of the digital hub extension-izing

Jobs' dream will become a reality as the Mac is using all these standards that allow for other products to work well with the Mac...

play on player

kman42 · Jan 11, 2003, 11:29 PM

Originally posted by Nebagakid:
that is really really cool, I think this is the beginning of the digital hub extension-izing

Jobs' dream will become a reality as the Mac is using all these standards that allow for other products to work well with the Mac...

play on player

I agree. It will be much easier for appliances based on Linux to integrate with the Mac. I'm not just thinking of networking (of which TiVo+Rendezvous is a great example), but of technologies we haven't even thought of yet. It was really really smart of Apple to start embracing and pushing open standards. There will always be a group larger than Apple and its customers that are in favor of open standards and open source. Even if they aren't developing directly for the Mac, they are as long as Apple keeps compatible with open standards.

Although the user base may only be 5%, the developer base may be as large as 20%. It's much harder for MS to compete against 20%, than 5%. As long as that 20% exists, then it is a pretty safe bet that MS will have to play fairly nice with that group. If 20% demand interoperability, it's hard not to play. As long as Apple maintains compatibility with that 20%, then we will have lots of products available to us. The reputation of the platform will change from that of just a niche market that is incompatible with the rest of the world to one that can survive and prosper in that world. We may do things differently, but we can still do it the same when necessary (file compatibility, for instance).

And don't forget efforts like the iPod which is really just guerilla warfar in the media format battle.

Anyway, this becoming a reality just got me thinking more about Apple's overall strategy.

kman

kman42 · Jan 12, 2003, 10:37 AM

I can't believe people aren't more excited about this. Everyone has been clamoring for new digital lifestyle devices and here it is!

Are people just pissed that it's not from Apple? Well, at $150, it's certainly cheaper than anything Apple would come out with.

I just find it interesting that there is so little interest in the first third-party product to really take advantage of Rendezvous in a consumer-digital-lifestyle way and that foretells of the functionality of OSX and the iLife apps to come in about 3 months.

kman