Getting started
From NLTiVo
Hardware
To get started, you will need a US TiVo Series 1 (or a UK TiVo). See Which TiVo Should I Buy? to see which TiVo you should buy. Series 2 is not (yet) usable in a PAL-country like The Netherlands. You can get a TiVo Series 1 from eBay. Make sure the person you are buying from ships to The Netherlands and that they are willing to ship using USPS (not UPS, unless you are willing to pay USD 150 for shipping). Shipping costs will be around USD 35-50, depending on the person shipping and the method of shipping (by air or by surface). Watch the user's rating on eBay to see whether he/she is reliable to do business with.
If you have an analog phoneline and a dial-up ISP-account, you don't need a network-card. If you don't, or just want a network-connection, you will also need a TurboNet-card for ethernet-connectivity. Optionally you can insert a larger harddrive (or two) for more recording space. If you are using an external receiver (cable box, VCR, satellite-receiver) you are ready to go. Your TiVo will automatically control this box via infrared. If you want to use the analog Coax-input in combination with a US TiVo, you will need to replace the original NTSC-tuner with a PAL-version (see Darren King's homepage on how to do this). The UK-version doesn't need a tuner replacement, but is more expensive.
Software
The easiest way to get your TiVo up-and-running software-wise, is to download one of the nlTiVo installer CD's. This installer CD contains the Philips and/or Sony-images, depending on the ISO-file you are going to download. These images were made for US TiVo's, but can also be used on a UK TiVo.
See the PrepareTiVoDisk-page on how to get the software and image the disk.
If you already have a working nlTiVo-image and want to update it to release 1.6, go directly to this page.
After the imaging, install the harddrive into your TiVo. Now it's time for the initial setup procedure (Guided Setup). This procedure will configure your provider's line-up, get the latest guide-slices and builds the initial database (MFS). The user intervention usually takes around 10 minutes. The initialisation of the database usually takes several hours. Considering this, it seems like a good idea to do this prior to going to bed, so that your TiVo can take it's time to finish the initial configuration.
See the GuidedSetup-page for a walk through the Guided-setup procedure.
Slices
The slices with lineup-information and guide-data can automatically be retrieved from the TiVo-emulator we are running. More information can be obtained via the nlTiVo-mailinglist. The emulator-service for nlTiVo is running stable now since May 2005.
