How can I keep using my series 3 TiVo after October 2017?

Some OzTiVo community volunteers are putting together instructions and tools to help people connect to an alternate service which provides most of the everyday functions (for example EPG) which the official Australian and New Zealand TiVo service provided.

1. (Skip) It was previously recommended to update to TiVo software version 11.3b10.2017.10.11-1506-01-2-Z-663 before making any modifications to a TiVo, but since the official Australian and New Zealand TiVo service was turned off on 17 November 2017, this is no longer possible (as far as we know).

2. It is a very good idea to make a backup of your hard drive(s) before making modifications, and on general principles in case your hard drive fails in future. Some suggested tools for this are WinMFS old home page (link does not include working download) (or WinMFS forums page for download of WinMFS 9.3g which doesnt work either) and dvrBARS. You will need to remove your internal hard drive to do the backup (and also to run TiVoInstaller mentioned below).

3. You need to have a modified PROM installed inside your TiVo. This is required before your TiVo will work with the OzTiVo software modifications mentioned below.

4. Do OzTiVo software modifications on the internal hard drive of your TiVo. This may be done by the same person who installed the modified PROM. Otherwise, instructions for installing the OzTiVo modifications are here TivoInstaller_0.6.pdf

The zip file containing the installer software is here tivo_installer_0.6.zip

You can look at http://www.angusj.com/tivo/ for tips on removing the internal hard drive from an Australian TiVo and putting it back again (its the same for New Zealand). You need to remove the hard drive for Step 3 of the TivoInstaller instructions.

Note: Installing the OzTiVo mods does not delete existing recordings on your hard drive.

5. If the tivo is operating in a different timezone (the tivo is showing the time for NSW/ACT/Vic/Tas but you are in SA/NT/WA or Qld so the tivo's time seems to be wrong by 30 minutes or more), then run Guided Setup and set the postcode to your state or territory capital CBD postcode (see S3MyTiVoHasWrongGuideData for details). Note: make sure your tivo is using Dial Code 140 before you start Guided Setup. Trying to use Guided Setup to the official TiVo mothership after Hybrid TV closes that service is risky, you may need to restore your hard drive from your backup (see step 2).

6. OzTiVo recommends you use ‘Clear program information & To Do List’. See S3MyTiVoHasWrongGuideData for more information about this (and guide data issues in general).

7. Force a connection to TiVo Service in Network Settings, to get guide data from the OzTiVo mothership (dial code 140)

8. Wait many hours (probably about 12) for your TiVo to index the new guide data

9. Delete your Season Passes and re-add them after the guide data from OzTiVo is indexed (programs are visible in Search by Title or Record by Time).

Note: there are more details about steps 5-9 in S3MyTiVoHasWrongGuideData.

Back to: S3 F.A.Q

-- David Keegel - 2017-10-31

-- Adam Kr - 2017-11-02

Comments

If you get an error Searching for puppy files......puppy_tahr_6.0.sfs not found. Dropping out to initial-ramdisk console... soon after trying to boot the USB disk, then this could indicate a file system error on the USB disk. Try booting Windows with that USB disk plugged in, if you see chkdsk messages this is an indication that Windows is repairing file system errors, so after it is finished, shut down Windows and try rebooting to the USB disk again. It worked for me!

-- David Keegel - 2017-11-06

When booting from the puppy usb, I am unable to get my computer to go to the oztivo dialog. Instead it goes into puppy gui. It seems to skip the start up program that sends it to the oztivo installation script. Can anyone suggest what I should/could do?

-- Hugh Cowan - 2017-11-20

Hugh, make sure you extract the files from tivo_installer_0.6.zip onto the USB key (with puppy linux), which should over-write 2 or 3 files. You can do the unzip from Windows, you need the tivo_installer_0.6.zip and the USB key connected/mounted. In the PDF example the USB key is E:, but your mileage may vary.

-- David Keegel - 2017-11-26

I hate to say it, but my wife really doesn't like the 30 second skip and I would like to be able to turn it off. Other than that, everything else is terrific.

-- Great Drok - 2017-12-07

I	Attachment	History	Action	Size	Date	Who	Comment
pdf	TivoInstaller_0.6.pdf	r2 r1	manage	625.1 K	2017-11-02 - 05:41	MattCallow
zip	tivo_installer_0.6.zip	r1	manage	6338.7 K	2017-11-01 - 03:15	MattCallow

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