Remote Hacks
From NZTivo
30 Second Skip
Don't you wish Tivo had a 30-second skip?
Usually, the ->| button on the Tivo remote will bring you to the end of a program, or if you are at the end, it will bring you to the beginning. If you are fast forwarding, the button will skip you to the next tick mark. This hack is all about repurposing that button to act as the 30-second skip.
Bring up any recorded program. Then, enter the following sequence on your remote:
Select Play Select 3 0 Select
You'll know the combination worked when Tivo rings out three "bling" sounds. Your ->| button will now skip forward by 30 seconds.
Note that this hack is not permanent. If at any time your Tivo needs to be rebooted—after becoming unplugged or as a result of a power failure—the hack will go away and you will have to reapply it.
Menu Short Cuts
| Button Sequence | Menu Displayed |
| (Tivo Button) 1 or (Tivo Btn)(Tivo Btn) | Now Playing |
| (Tivo Button) 2 | To Do List |
| (Tivo Button) 3 | WishLists |
| (Tivo Button) 4 | Browse By Name |
| (Tivo Button) 5 | Browse By Channel |
| (Tivo Button) 6 | Browse By Time |
| (Tivo Button) 7 | Record Time/Channel (manual recording) |
| (Tivo Button) 8 | Tivo Suggestions |
| (Tivo Button) 9 | Network Showcases |
| (Tivo Button) |> (slow play) | Messages and Setup |
Onscreen Clock
Perhaps you have a clock in the same room as your television set, but it's off in the corner and you never think to avert your gaze from the tube. This hack embeds a clock right there into your line of sight, at the bottom-right of your screen.
Enter the following sequence on your Tivo remote:
Select Play Select 9 Select
You will hear Tivo "bling" and a floating white-on-black clock will appear at the bottom-right of your screen. On some versions of Tivo, you not only get the local time, but also how far you are into the show, in minutes and seconds—assuming, of course, you're watching a recorded show.
To remove the clock at any time, simply re-enter the sequence and visit any Tivo menu. If you do not go to a menu, the clock will just sit there happily until you do so.
Making the Play Bar Disappear Faster
Reduce the amount of time the play bar lingers on the screen.
So, you are a speed freak. Not only have you mastered the >> button, but you also itch it to make everything faster. The one thing that particularly annoys you is that after you fast forward, then hit play, that green bar showing where you are in the current recording—hovers on the screen for a little longer than you really want it to.
There are two types of Tivo users: those who want as much output on the screen as possible, and the rest of us who want our screens to be as free of superfluous readout as possible. If you're in the latter category, this hack's for you.
To reduce the amount of time the play bar appears on the screen, enter the following remote control sequence:
Select Play Select Pause Select
Now give it a whirl; fast forward through a show and then push play. That bar should disappear right away. Undo the hack at any time by entering the sequence again.
Enable Backdoor from your Remote
To enable the back-door you need to be at a 'Ouija screen' the easiest way is to hit the TiVo on the remote then select 'Pick Programs to Record' then 'Search by Title' then 'All Programs'. Now you show be at the place where you can search for shows, this is the Ouija screen. In the search for field enter: 3 0 BC then press the Thumbs-Up button on the remote. If done correctly you'll hear a bunch of bings and "backdoors enabled' will flash on screen. You can verify that backdoors are on in the System Information screen.
TIVO Button Pick Programs to Record Search by Title All Programs
3<space>0<space>BC Thumbs-UP
This will enable the backdoor. It works on OzTivo 3.0 Image.
- From www.tivocanada.com/short/83.php
Select-Play-Select Codes
These codes take the format of "Select Play Select Something Select". These do not require backdoors to be enabled for them to work. The best way to do this type of code is to start playing a recorded program and do them while the recorded program is playing. They can be done from LiveTV as well, but people generally have a hard time getting them to work when trying to do that.
S-P-S-9-S - Toggles the Clock display in the bottom right corner. When you are watching LiveTV or a recording, this will show the time and where you are at in the recording. It's a toggle, so do it again to turn it off. However, when you turn it off, it doesn't disappear, you must go into a Tivo menu and return for it to go away. The Elapsed Time Indicator was removed in 3.0, to the general groan of everyone (it was very handy). They appear to have added it back to 3.2 on Series 2 boxes, but whether this becomes generally true is anybody's guess.
S-P-S-InstantReplay-S - Toggles a Status display in the bottom right corner. This displays what the Tivo is currently doing. Bit useless, really. Do it again to toggle it back off. Like the clock code, it doesn't disappear when you turn it off, you must go into a menu to make it disappear.
S-P-S-Pause-S - Toggles the fast disappear of the Play bar. Appears to have no other major effect, but who knows?
S-P-S-3-0-S (1.3, also 2.5, not 2.0 or 2.01) - Toggles 30 second skip mode. This turns the Skip to End button into a 30 second skip button. This was removed in 2.0x, but added back in 2.5.
Clear-Enter-Clear Codes
C-E-C stands for "Clear Enter Clear". Note: the claim is that all "C-E-C something" combinations will make the same confirmation tones, but they may or may not do anything. Here are the known codes.
C-E-C Thumbs-Up - Will allow you to access the TiVo's log files on your TV screen. Page up and page down allow you to move through the log information and the right arrow you to move through the log files. Use the left arrow key to get back out to the normal TiVo menus. Thumbs up and Thumbs down will take you to the top of bottom of whatever log is on screen.
C-E-C Thumbs-Down - Will shut down the myworld program on a TiVo. The myworld program is the brain of the TiVo. Shutting it down is not advisable since the only thing you can do with the TiVo at that point is use the BASH shell if you activated one. If you do have a BASH prompt you can rerun the myworld program to get the TiVo running fully again. If not you need to power down and up the TiVo to get it fully functional again.
C-E-C-0 (2.0) - This turns off the display of "scheduled suggestions" in the ToDo List. Also makes the clock (see SPS9S) NOT have a black bar behind it.
C-E-C-1 (2.0) - This turns off the display of "scheduled suggestions" in the ToDo List. Also makes the clock (see SPS9S) have a black bar behind it.
C-E-C-2 (2.0) - This turns on the display of "scheduled suggestions" in the ToDo List. A "scheduled suggestion" is a suggestion the Tivo is planning on recording. It doesn't take effect until something changes in the ToDo List. To cancel a scheduled suggestion, see this post.
C-E-C-3 (2.0) - Appears to do the exact same thing as CEC2. I'm pretty certain there's more to this than we are aware of right now.
**2.5 note**: C-E-C 0-3 (the above 4 codes) do not appear to work in 2.5, but they do still affect the "black background" of the clock. They just don't do anything for the suggestions in the ToDo List. To put suggestions in the ToDo list, see the "thumbs thumbs" code below.
C-E-C 4 - This forces suggestions to be rebuilt (same as 'sendkey dumpState'?).
C-E-C 5 - Toggles the overshoot correction during fast forwarding on and off.
C-E-C Fast-Forward - This resets (reboots) the TiVo
C-E-C Skip-to-end - Turns on "Boat-Anchor" mode. This convinces the TiVo that it should behave as if it has no guide data. Boat Anchor mode is automatic when the unit runs out of guide data, so this is probably only for testing purposes. A bit useless, really.
Enter-Enter Codes
E-E stands for "Enter Enter". The following codes must be entered in the "Search by Title"screen. These codes are generally used to set values on the Tivo. You enter the code, and the prompt will appear, along with the red recording light coming on. You then enter the value. You then enter the code again to set the value in, and the recording light will go off. It doesn't actually stop recording if you happen to be recording something, however. Entering invalid values (non-numeric) will cause your Tivo to reboot, so be careful.
E-E-1 - Gives you Speed1: prompt. Turns the record LED on (indicating the backdoor is open and can be changed?). Enter a number for how fast you want the first scan speed to run at, and then press E-E-1 again. The record LED will go out.
The last two digits of the number must be 00 for an integer multiple speed. The digits to the left of the 00 indicate how many times normal playing speed the scan is running. 300 (which is 3x) is the default Speed1 scan speed, but you can't see that, you can only enter a number. A value of "1" is super slow motion (.01x speed) Unit will revert back to default speed when rebooted.
Does not appear to work in 2.0, although the prompt is still there.
E-E-2 - Gives you Speed2: prompt. Default is 2000. See Speed1 above. Does not appear to work in 2.0, although the prompt is still there.
E-E-3 - Gives you Speed3: prompt. Default is 6000. See Speed1 above. Does not appear to work in 2.0, although the prompt is still there.
E-E-4 - Gives you Rate1: prompt. Function unknown.
E-E-5 - Gives you Rate2: prompt. Function unknown.
E-E-6 - Gives you Rate3: prompt. Function unknown.
E-E-7 - Gives you Inter: prompt. Function unknown. Same as TIVO_INTERSTITIAL_INTERVAL environment variable (?). Interstitials were removed a long time ago, so this is probably useless.
E-E-8 - Gives you Open: prompt. Function unknown. Same as TIVO_LONGOPEN_INTERVAL environment variable. (?)
E-E-9 - Gives you Int.disabled, or int.enabled prompt. Toggles "interstitials". Intersititials were little TiVo guy animations that occurred between each menu screen. Most of them were deleted as being too annoying, but the initial boot one remains. Setting the TIVO_DISABLE_INTERSTITIALS environment variable to 1 disables it. Toggling "Int." from the remote causes the animation to play every time you hit the TiVo button. (Reported, may not work for everyone).
E-E-Tivo - If in Debug mode (see C-C-E-E 2 below), lets you set the TiVo's clock. Warning: setting this value may cause all of your Guide data to get "expired". If you want to play with this, keep in mind that TiVo may get mad at you for downloading several copies of your Guide data over the course of a couple of days. The best way to fix a messed up clock without reloading all the Guide data is to do the "Make a Test Call" option. The format of the time entry you use is the same as the format for the settime command. (?)
E-E-Rewind - Lets you set the "Offset:". Defaults to 2000.
E-E-FastForward - Lets you set the "Delay:". Defaults to 957.
The Offset and Delay control the overshoot correction. When you set them, go to any recorded program, play it, pause it, and press FF to do a frame advance. This makes the new values you put in take effect. For 1.3 like correction, use Offset of 1000 and Delay of 750.
Clear Clear Enter Enter codes
C-C-E-E stands for "Clear Clear Enter Enter". The following codes must be entered in the "System Information" screen.
C-C-E-E 2 - Turns on or off "Special Mode: DEBUG" (Note: you have to leave the "System Information" screen and re-enter it to see this flag turned on.) Starts sending debugging output to the /var/log/tvdebuglog file. This setting will STAY ON after a reboot. Not advised to leave this on for long periods of time.
C-C-E-E 3 - Seems to initiate a call. (a special one?)
C-C-E-E 7 [works even without Backdoors enabled] - Causes a message to be written to /var/log/tven saying: SetupDebugContext:OnNumber[94]: USER PROBLEM LOGSTAMP .
I'm guessing that Customer Support tells customers who are having problems to do CCEE7 around the time that the problem occurs, and then when they upload the logs, they can help locate what was going on when the problem happened.
C-C-E-E 8 - Takes you to the "Channels You Watch" page with NONE OF THE CHANNELS SELECTED! I guess this might be a quick way to clear your channel list. Fortunately you can just back out of it without losing your current channel list. I didn't try going forward from that screen... AVS Forum member "android" warns that this doesn't work ... and that it just hangs his machine..
C-C-E-E 0 [works even without Backdoors enabled] - It allows you to enter your own "Dial-in configuration code"! It does not appear to let you directly change the TFA value.
TFA stands for Toll Free Authorization. Possible values: 0=[Access] denied ["you probably didn't ask, but you used a local, so QED"] 1=No decision [made yet] (you got time) 2=Oh you requested (we'll get back to ya) 3=Yeah, I guess so 4=Researched and you are out of luck 5=You had your chance but did nothing
The Dial In Access code (the 000 part) can be changed via some special key sequences.... Anyway, when Tivo CS gets a really unusual problem that needs files downloaded to the unit, they can tell the customer to change the access code and it'll then download certain types of files.. These may be predefined debugging type things or may be files the guy just then put on the server.
Best case scenario: Your daily call fails. Worst case scenario: Your Tivo breaks by downloading and running some weird debug thing and is unrepairable without a whole drive backup.
Triple Thumb codes (new to 2.5 and up)
New codes, it seems like. There's only a few of these, and they are still being found. Consider them experimental.
Thumbs Down, Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Instant Replay -
- If done in the ToDo List, it will turn on "Scheduled Suggestions" (See above).
- If done in the Now Playing List, it will display the "hidden" recordings, like the Teleworld Paid Program. These recordings are those in reserved space.
Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Instant Replay -
- If done in Now Playing, it will take you to a new menu called "Clips on Disk". This menu has the same content as the hidden recordings, but broken up into clips like they are in the Showcases. If you don't have any clips for whatever reason (haven't gotten any yet, your cable operator pre-empts the clips program, etc), this will reboot the machine.
Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Record -
- Do it from the Tivo Central main menu to get the "MenuItem Back Door". It shows the current date in both the number of days since Jan. 1st, 1970 (an internal date format) and also in the normal style. If there is a menu item at the bottom (ad) then it will show the expiration date.
- Do it from the Showcases screen to show all the hidden showcases, if there are any. It's a toggle. Do it again to remove them. Hidden showcases are simply the latest showcases that haven't had anything added to them, and have thus expired.
Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Clear (3.0) -
- Do it in Tivo Central to change all the fonts to italic.
Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Enter -
- Dumps debug messages in /var/log/tvlog
AutoTest mode (3.0)
Go into Now Playing, view a description and hit 1,2,3 followed by Channel Down (the logs will now report "***** Auto_test mode unlocked! ***** ").
Hit 4 to start the auto test (it presses random keys to simulate someone using the Tivo.. quite annoying in fact) Hit 5 to change the test Hit 7 or 8 to change the delay between simulated keys Hit 4 again to stop .. might have to reboot to avoid triggering it next time you hit 4
Dialing codes
Want to change the way your Tivo calls home? Read on. All these codes are inserted into the dialing prefix space in the Phone Setup stuff.
,#034 - This will limit the speed of the modem to v.34 (28.8k) which may improve your connections if you have poor lines. If you have a lot of failed calls, this might help. Makes the call take about twice as long, in theory.
,#019 - Same concept as above, but slower. If the above won't work, try this. But beware that it will seriously slow down the connection and make the call that much longer. Like 4 times longer than normal, approximately.
,#2xx - 3.0 only - Use PPP over Serial for the daily call. xx stands for the port speed. The first two digits of the port speed are what you put in here. So: 96 = 9600 38 = 38,400 57 = 57,600 11 = 115,200 And so on.. The ,#2xx code will make the unit try to connect to a computer attached to the serial port using PPP. For more info, search the Underground forums.
,#3xx - 3.0 only - Use PPP over serial for the daily call. This is the same as with ,#2xx, but in this mode, it does a "modem emulation". That is, it will send AT type commands over the serial port as if a modem was there. Some third party PPP servers support exactly this kind of mode. Also, this can allow you to connect an external modem to the serial port and having it really dial and complete a call using that modem. Some sites sell preconfigured external modems for this purpose, and it has even been done on TechTV. Search around.
,#401 - 3.0 only - This sets up the Tivo to use ethernet for the daily calls. On Series 1 boxes, this means TivoNet or TurboNet. On Series 2, this means a USB->Ethernet dongle. Not all dongles will work, do a search for more info.
Sorting the Now Playing List (3.0)
In Now Playing, Enter: (S)low (0)Zero (R)ecord (T)humbsUp
Press enter to switch sorting options.
short cut keys are 1 for normal 2 for experation date 3 for alphabetical
Information from tivocommunity forum
--Excerpts from Oreilly Tivo Hacks
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