[mythtv-users] Zap2it Labs Shutting Down?

Rod Smith mythtv at rodsbooks.com
Wed Jun 20 18:50:02 UTC 2007


On Wednesday 20 June 2007 12:46, ryan constantine wrote:
> I know I"m late to this party, so I apologize if it has been discussed
> before...
>
> but has anyone looked at the possibility of figuring out the guide data
> streams used by cable and satellite?

Another idea occurs to me, albeit one that might or might not be legal (I 
simply don't know): TiVo distributes its guide data in the form of "paid 
programming" on various channels (mostly Discovery). If you tune in and watch 
one of these, you see a screen with a text message in the center of the 
screen to the effect that this is guide data fro TiVos. Surrounding this is a 
series of white and black squares that blink on and off -- presumably some 
form of binary-encoded data. In theory, it should be possible for Myth boxes 
to record these shows and extract the data from them. Granted, it'd be a big 
challenge to figure out the encoding method, and if TiVo uses any sort of 
encryption it'd be even worse (maybe impossible) to access the data. Then of 
course there's the question of whether this would be legal (as I say, I 
simply don't know). If TiVo wanted to disrupt such activities, I'm sure they 
could, simply by providing incomplete or partially inaccurate listings via 
this method and correcting them via the TiVo units' phone calls. Still, I 
thought I'd toss this out as a possibility....

-- 
Rod Smith
http://www.rodsbooks.com


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