I bought a Tivo HD premiere 2 months ago with the intent of getting HD OTA in Calgary as there are 2 channels available at this time. Luckily, I am near both towers. The only bug is that the Tivo guide list their frequency channels, not their virtual channels. So for the last 2 months I have raised 2 lineup change requests and I am still waiting to see the results although the first one said solved.

I have seen that Toronto and Vancouver seems to have all their correct lineups. Edmonton is in the same boat as Calgary.

On a side note, does anyone have access to the "video on demand" on their S3/S4 ?

There is an issue in Ottawa too. Sun-TV is on virtual channel 20.1, but the guide data comes up as channel 20. When scanning for channels, 2 channels appear in the TiVo guide- 20 and 20.1. Both channels show the same thing, but there is no guide data showing on 20.1. This contradicts virtual channels 4.1, 9.1, 27.1, and 66.1 that are all using the correct virtual channel assignment. There must be a reason why 20 is different.

I received my Premiere HD software update yesterday. It's now version 14.4 and there is a remarkable improvement in the speed of the menus. It's much more usable now. Instead of using the old style menu, I've switched to the new one now that it's faster.

Good to know. Funny. I have had 14.4 on the first day out. I agree that the speed improved however created a few new bugs. Went to the SD 2 days ago just for fun and found it way more enjoyable. I can't stand anymore the wait on paging in "now playing". Love the HD but not enough to live through it. The HD has a bug in the search that we can load the music videos that he SD menu does not have.

As for the channel, have you sent a lineup change request? Is 20 the frequency or the analog channel? I am kind of scared that it may take months as I am not near the border. You should see the answer one of the CHAT CSR answered on my channel lineup issue said about tivo not providing virtual channel. It even confused the phoned CSR. I can post the transcript if you want to check it out. I have to contact them again to let them know how my lineup is doing this week.

I love my Tivo and prefer it 100 times over the cable box (motorola 3416)

Sure I'd like to read that post if you don't mind. The frequency of Sun is actually 20, but the virtual channel is 20.1. Having the guide on 20 is not a problem. It all works. I just don't understand why they are using the virtual channel for the rest, but the frequency for SUN.

I'm not going to report it since it's working ok using the frequency. Sun will be moving to channel 33 after the Canadian analog shutdown. I do wonder how fast it will take to get all of the channels lined up with the guide once these changes take place. I'm sure there will be growing pains.

Is 20 the frequency or the analog channel?

Sun TV is DTV only in Ottawa (they decided not to build an analog transmitter) so 20 is both the physical and virtual channel number for the DTV broadcast. At first 20.2 was the SD broadcast, but they shut that down a while back to increase the bandwidth on 20.1.

Edwin, you can plug the TiVo box into your router using an Ethernet cable assuming they will be close to one another.

Not necessarily true. Ethernet cables can be up to 100m long (total length from device to device) so they don't need to be close together. However, most houses are not pre-wired with Cat5 and many people can't be bothered to add it after the fact so in many cases is is easier to use wireless. If you can do it, a wired connection is preferable though and wireless should be saved for portable devices.

I ran a 100 foot CAT6 Ethernet cable from top floor router to my basement. It plugs into a switch in my basement. From the switch I have 5 outputs going up into my living room wall to a Keystone 6 port plate. The following items are wired Ethernet:

TiVo
Bell PVR
Denon Receiver
Sony PS3
Pioneer plasma

I hope nothing new comes along soon. The TiVo box as well as the rest work fine with the long cable. The speed and slowdowns often come from the device, not the Internet.

Good to know. Funny. I have had 14.4 on the first day out. I agree that the speed improved however created a few new bugs. Went to the SD 2 days ago just for fun and found it way more enjoyable. I can't stand anymore the wait on paging in "now playing". Love the HD but not enough to live through it.
My sentiment exactly. I have been a proud owner of Tivo Premier for 3 days now and noticed the same thing. Of course, I have read about new "HD" interface being slow, but didn't expect it to be that slow. When you have to wait for 15 sec after pressing a button, wondering if it registered at all - it borders with usability :o SD interface is fast, but looks kinda ugly on big screen HDTV :rolleyes: I am still happy though. It's night and day comparing to Rogers PVR abomination.
To share some tips - Tivo understands Canadian postal code without a problem or tricks like entering it into telephone field. The guided setup has two paths on the first page - for US and Canada. However, using my Canadian location Tivo only setup Canadian channels automatically, although I receive all Buffalo stations as well. Forced channel scan produced a few US channels, but not all I receive, strangely enough. Also, guide data was not available for newly found US channels. Tivo might update later, but I didn't wait for it. I repeated guided setup, but using Nigara Falls, NY zip code - and I got all channels, Canadian and US. Only digital though (Canadian setup picked analog ones just fine). Not a problem for me as I am interested in those only.
Have not tried new internet features yet - YouTube, Blockbuster and such. Most of them require linking the provider account to Tivo account - I didn't bother.
Actually, I talked to Tivo's CS about Premier activation in Canada and they say it is not officially supported, though they don't care what model I have when it comes to basic service - Canada is supported. But IPTV and internet features are not, so if it does not work - oh well.
Now I am just anxious for working solution to extend the disk space, without buying (rediculously expensive) drop-in drives :p

I am still happy with the premiere. Mind you it is my 6th tivo (2 series 1, 3 series 2 and the premiere) and I really appreciate the HD. As stated above, they have bugs. You can download music video in HD menu but not in SD menu. In HD menu, love the search and find it quite fast. the Now playing is slow. So I am on SD menu. Overhaul, good hardware. Knowing Tivo, they will get it in a few months. Pretty sure the Beta team is working overtime!
I am happy to see that, as you live near the border, you were able to get all your channels. Hopefully mine will be corrected soon.

For bigger drive. I decided to buy the 1 terabyte MyDVRExpander at a very reasonable cost at Dell.

Funkytown, The following was a chat I had with Tivo:Brandon: Thank you for contacting TiVo! My name is Brandon. So that I may better assist you, are you an existing customer?
null null: hello may I have news about my incident #XXXXXX-XXXXXX
Brandon: Certainly, one moment please.
null null: Thank you
Brandon: I show that the lineup issue has been corrected and that you should have received a message on the TiVo as well saying the issue has been corrected. I am guessing you are still having a lineup issue, is that correct?
null null: Correct. Not corrected yet. I forgot to mention that It is an OTA error not cable.
Brandon: I see. Yes, I saw in the notes channels 2-1 and 4-1 as well. Please update me on the specific channels that are having issues.
Brandon: Also is this issue with the Premiere unit?
null null: Yes, with the premiere.
Brandon: Thank you.
null null: OTA doesn't show the 2 HD channels Do you want me to describe it ?
Brandon: Please. I apologize that you need to explain the situation again.
null null: basically, the lineup is showing on OTA channel 36 and 41 correctly but virtual channel 4-1 and 2-1 are actually the correct ones. (as describe in the note)
null null: (think it says Frequency vs channel 36 and 41)
Brandon: Thank you. Please go to central > messages and settings > settings > channels > channel list.
null null: going
null null: ok there
Brandon: Thank you. To verify I show 36 is Bravo and 41 is Comedy central, is that correct?
Brandon: are 36 and 41 listed in the channel list?
null null: correct for Cable. ANT shows 36 is CFCNDT and 41 shows CICTDT
Brandon: I see. And those should be channels 4 and 2 respectively, is that correct for the ANT?
null null: 4-1 and 2-1. the channel 4 and 2 are their analog counterparts
Brandon: Thank you. And you see a picture on 4-1 and 2-1 but no channel information, correct?
null null: Correct.
null null: And they are also showing as antenna. not from the cable (we do not have any Clear QAM on our cable.
Brandon: Thank you. On the cable do you see pictures on 36 and 41 also?
null null: Yes. from Bravo and comedy central from Cable. the 36 and 41 from antenna show black.
Brandon: Thank you. I am contacting a supervisor now to see what further troubleshooting we need to do. It appears that the lineup has been corrected, we need to simply see why the TiVo unit hasn't updated.
null null: If I understand, I should see the 2-1 and 4-1 with guide ?
Brandon: One moment, I'll ask.
null null: ok
Brandon: When you press the guide button, do either 2-1 or 4-1 appear?
null null: They do with "To be Announced". They were discovered during channel scan.
Brandon: Thank you.
Brandon: I was able to confirm with a supervisor that the 2-1 and 4-1 are rebroadcasts of the channel 36 and 41 and unfortunately we are not able to set program information for those channels because they are rebroadcasts.
Brandon: I apologize because our agent should have been able to tell you back on the 11th that we are not able to set channel information for those channels.
Brandon: My supervisor mentioned as well that you would see "to be announced" for those channels in the guide because they are rebroadcasts.
null null: I am kind of a loss as these 2 are vitual channels and are shown on zaptoit. I am not sure what "rebroadcast really mean.
null null: I would understand if it would be cable. This is OTA.
Brandon: They are a rebroadcast of the channel 36 and 41 channels and they are being broadcast on the 2-1 and 4-1 channels. Basically we are able to set channel information for each channel, but to only one channel. We are sending the channel information for 36 and 41, but not able to send the information for those two channels plus 2-1 and 4-1. It's because 36 and 41 are the set channels whereas 2-1 and 4-1 can be changed at any time.
null null: So, if I understand, TIVO does not support ANY of the virtual channel such as x-x ?
null null: (on OTA, Naturally)
Brandon: We support the setup to the TiVo unit, but unfortunately we are not able to set a channel list for those shows and as a result are not able to offer channel information for those channels. You will be able to set manual recordings for those channels, but you will not be able to search for programs on those channels.
null null: OK, Thank youAfter this chat, I raised a new lineup change request and they requested me to call them. They confirm that I should have the virtual and a line up change has been processed to Tribune and wait a few more weeks and if no change to call them back. Ticket is still open.

Oh my. So this is all very contradictory. One person says you won't get it and another says you will. It's really confusing. I don't know why we even have virtual channels. It's just causing more issues.

Thanks for posting that. It was an interesting read.

andrela, I had the exact same issue a couple of months ago with OTA on my TivoHD. Everything was fine with my 4 HD OTA channels (correct subchannels, correct guide info, HD picture), then suddenly one day they sent a message through the Tivo that there had been a channel lineup change and ALL of my HD OTA channels now said to be announced. I called them (first call to their customer service ever...since 2001) and got the same run-around as you. I ended up having to get it escalated to second level techs. It took me 6-8 calls over 3 weeks, but eventually it did get fixed and my Tivo now recognizes and has guide data for the subchannels with HD picture.

Faston, Thank you for the info. It is funny that I have been subscribing to Tivo also since 2001(Oct) and it was also my first call. Looks like I have many, many calls still to make. How did it get elevated ? What was the "magic" word ? They told me to way 5-7 days for the change. How long did it take for the fix to appear after your last call ?

This sounds crazy. TIVO shouldn't be telling you what channels you are can receive, you should be telling them. Makes me all the more glad I went with a HTPC. May be a bit more work on my end, but at least I am in control.

It took me 3-5 days to receive the update for the listings. That was in February 2009 when the digital change append. Your situation is much better.

This is just a minor adjustment. I was much worst in Feb 2009. TiVo always made the changed I asked for without any exceptions.

I tried a HTPC and TiVo is much better.

andrela: I just had to be polite but insistent. I said that I felt like a second class citizen. Said that I doubt that it would take weeks to resolve if all the OTA listings in Dallas suddenly went away. The problem (as with all companies) is that the actual tech people are not the front line workers....have to make it through them first.

Just off the phone with Tivo Support. I had Joe on the line. I am very impressed with his knowledge and service. He submitted the change while we were on the phone and made sure the story was straight as it was listed as done in the last answer. He will do a follow up call on Tuesday to check if change has been done. If he calls, that is service!

Yes it is. Let us know if he calls back, and if he has a direct line it sure would be nice to have it.

I've had my TiVo Premiere for a couple of months. I only figured out today how to enter the dash in the virtual channels. For example, to watch 4-1, you press 4, then skip fwd, then 1. I thought I'd mention it because it's not widely publisized.

Good to know.

Talking about things to know. is there something out there that really say what does and does NOT working on the network side of thing in Canada? Tivo FAQ pretty much says nothing works although it is a half true.

My observation. In SD screen display:

1. Video on demand menu: Get error. cannot access
2. Swivel Search: Can find blockbuster, Music and Podcast but can't download.
3. No netflix, Amazon nor Youtube or anything in the same vein.

In HD screen display:

1. Browse web video: Just return to main menu.
2. Search: Music and Podcast Download works. can set podcast for season pass. Watch now does not work.
3. Download Manager: No Joy. Can show season pass if exist. Cannot edit them.
4. No netflix, Amazon nor Youtube or anything in the same vein.

Through Tivo website:
Podcast can be programmed or season pass set.

Going in the system info screen, my system level is listed as C:070610

What's your experience.