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Gadgets TiVoToGo DRM Protection Cracked
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - December 5, 2006 10:51 AM
Print 9 comment(s) - last by hondaman.. on Dec 6 at 9:59 AM
Playback now available on any device

According to reports, the digital rights management (DRM) mechanism on TiVoToGo has been cracked, allowing users to use their TiVo to record video content for playback on other platforms and any devices. DRM protection on TiVo devices currently only allow recorded movies to be played back on specific Windows devices but now it appears that users are able to use a small tool to unlock the restrictions. The report suggests the tool used to remove the DRM system is coded in C and available to compile on various platforms such as Linux and Solaris.

TiVo originally announced TiVoToGo so that users could record programs and watch them through a network connection using the HTTP protocol. Currently there exists a wiki dedicated to the development of the DRM removal tool. From the wiki, a user that appears to be involved with the actual development indicated:

One thing you have to look out for is that you have to keep a turing "buffer" of the output of the turing code, one for 0xe0 (video) and one for 0xc0 (audio) and pick up where you left off last packet, not start over for each packet. And an audio packet can be stuck between 2 video packets with the same block id, so you have to have them seperate. I would post a link to the code I have written or put it on sourceforge or something but I am not sure on the licensing or whether or not I would get a goonsquad busting down my door ;)

The program is currently cryptic and difficult to use, however, some users indicated that those associated with the development process are working on a friendly front-end for average users. The tool analyzes header information from saved TiVo movie files and removes specific DRM header information, then dumping the raw MPEG data to another file. This creates a DRM-less MPEG file which is then playable on any device.

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awesome indeed
By lufoxe on 12/5/2006 11:42:20 AM , Rating: 5
I do believe this is a justifiable reason to say "wo0t"
I am definitely a opponent for DRM, it's one thing to protect your investment, but sometimes people go to far. Kudos, congrats, and good job to the people who have found a way out of it.




RE: awesome indeed
By hondaman on 12/5/2006 3:26:30 PM , Rating: 2
Seriously, gj guys.

Now I can get a Tivo and it will be useful.


RE: awesome indeed
By SunAngel on 12/5/2006 8:28:56 PM , Rating: 1
Why? Why is it so important to be able to rip content into unsupported formats to other devices? For the kids? For the grandparents? For traveling while driving? For strolling while walking? For swimming while at the beach? For all except the first two, by viewing the content instead of focusing on the issue at hand (i.e. paying attention to the road, paying attention to where you walking, keeping the device from getting wet) has the likelyhood of putting others in dangerous situations, not to mention yourself. For the first two, will the kids really care if there watching a tivo recording ripped from the tivo machine or a dvd being played on a portable dvd player? And the grandparents? How many grandparents lives are so busy that they have to watch tv on the go?

Come on everyone. This DRM code breaking stuff is getting a little long in the tooth. I'm not a proponent for or against it, I just think hooking up a MCE 2005 machine, buring a dvd, and viewing it on a portable dvd player is alot easier than the ripping process, transcoding to a different format, and doing whatever else you need to do with the material.


RE: awesome indeed
By RogueSpear on 12/5/2006 10:06:09 PM , Rating: 2
Why? Because I can. And because I don't like people telling me what I can and can't do with my media. Even if it's not practical it's all about principle.


RE: awesome indeed
By mindless1 on 12/6/2006 4:04:08 AM , Rating: 2
You might be falsely assuming that Your Way is BEST for everyone. If it were true, there would be only one device in the market, what a sad state of technology that would be!


RE: awesome indeed
By hondaman on 12/6/2006 9:59:25 AM , Rating: 3
Why?

1. So that I can put TV eps on my media server and watch them on any TV in the house.
2. So that I can transcode the files into whatever type I want.
3. So that I can play the files on whatever device I want.
4. So that I am not limited to the storage on the Tivo box.
5. So that I can backup the the shows on the Tivo box, as Tivos have a relatively high failure rate.
6. So that I can copy tv eps for my friends. And now that you are wiping the coffee off your keyboard and monitor, keep in mind that people copied and traded casually VRC tapes _all the time_ and nobody (RIAA especially) made a fuss about it then. Legal? No. Did "they" care? No.
7. Tivo is going to start inserting advertisements into skipped commercials. I can now take the advertisements out. AGAIN.
8. Remember the days of fair use? I do.
9. Its my right to be able to use recorded content however I want for personal use, regardless of what the RIAA/MPAA is brainwashing you to think.
10. Because I can.


"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates









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