The PAL and my 46LG70 are pretty close, the PAL wins out, however the LG's feed is via PAL's pass-thru, perhaps with a direct feed the LG wins by a slim margin?

Certainly worth the large investment. The joy of preselecting interesting programs using zap2it and watching them when I want, harkens my first months with a vcr, but this is 10x better!

Save and Replay is where I decided to purchase from, best dollar value and no nonsense on the phone.

I live in Laval. Want to know if the CM7000 you are using comes with an electronic programming guide and if all the Montréal stations you can tune are displayed in details in the programming guide or if there are only a few stations available in the guide like the ASUS tuner I am using on my computer describing the programming of only the 2-1 and 17-1 but not the 6,12 and 35?

Assume you are asking about the CM7000PAL DVR since the other one is only an ATSC tuner/converter for CRT TVs. The DVR has up to one week of TV Guide programming information. U.S. station information is great but Canadian station networks like Global, OMNI and sometimes CTV are incomplete or always blank. CBC is okay most of the time.

Not sure why the programming information of Canadian stations are so poor, but optimistically look to the August conversion to digital in Canada as being a signficant turning point.

Well, here it is:

2.1: Radio-Canada: about 2 days
3.1: CBS: 1 week approx.
3.2: CBS: Weather Station is no guide
5.1: NBC: Hours
5.2: This: This is a bug because we see the 5.1 guide
6.1: CBC: No Guide
12.1: CTV: No Guide
17.1: TQ: 2 days approx.
33.1,2,3,4: 1 week approx.
35.1: V: No Guide
44.1,2: FOX: Hours
57.1,2,3: 1 week approx.

Note that I had the same thing with my Samsung TV only.

For the rest, it's a very good machine. It's easy to use
and even children know how to use without too much explanation ....

5.2: This: This is a bug because we see the 5.1 guide

I think to truly say that one's a bug, we'd have to see if it's truly in the stream or not via something like TsReader. If it's not in the stream when looking at it in TSReader, then it's not a bug.
e.g. - The station here in Buffalo, WNGS that carries ThisTV definitely does not transmit a guide. It's just not being sent, so it's not a bug over here.
On the other hand, I see u can't see a guide on CBC over there either. CBC I know for a fact, transmits a guide in the Toronto Area, an impressive 10 days or so, but ya can't see it on ur TV or STB. Now that's a Bug.

Just noticed that this device is on sale at the Channel Master website for $289.99USD, which--considering the CAD is currently above par--is better than the $399.99 being charged by some distributors here in Canada.

Question: Has anyone in Ontario ordered this item directly from Channel Master in the US? And if so, were there any surprises with duties and brokerage fees? How long did it take to receive?

Thanks...

Has anyone in Ontario ordered this item directly from Channel Master in the US? And if so, were there any surprises with duties and brokerage fees?
I haven't. But their only shipping option to Canada is Fedex International Economy ($44.25 to Toronto), so there's no need to be surprised - you WILL be charged GST/HST as well as brokerage fees by Fedex. Using the handy calculator at http://www.thefinalcost.com/shipments/calculate/ shows a total cost of about $420. YMMV depending on your location and GST/HST rate. If you could convince Channel Master to ship via the USPS, you could potentially save a few bucks.

Anymore comparisons of ATSC tuners to the CM7000 PAL
While trying to fix my reception problems, I took note of some information which sheds light on the CM7000PAL's tuner. Since it has a dual tuner, of course the DVR has a splitter built right in to the box. This effectively lowers the signal as soon as you plug it in. So depending on the signal strength off your antenna and the length of your cable run, you could see significant differences between your TV tuner and the CM tuner using the same wire. In my case, my LG 37LC7D locks in 11 channels while the CM only sees 4 from the exact same wire. My installer is suggesting a distribution amp right before the DVR to compensate. I'll let you know how that goes once my equipment is all sorted out.

You may not have seen but the reduced price on the website is for a refurbished unit.

I do remember seeing some say they bought one direct from Channel Master and had it shipped to Ontario. Can't remember where.

It says "open box" for the sale item. Still comes with warranty. I'm okay with that...as I'm sure many are.

Just noticed that this device is on sale at the Channel Master website for $289.99USD.

Use code: shopcmstore

It brings the price down to $260.

FYI

I haven't. But their only shipping option to Canada is Fedex International Economy ($44.25 to Toronto), so there's no need to be surprised - you WILL be charged GST/HST as well as brokerage fees by Fedex.

If you could convince Channel Master to ship via the USPS, you could potentially save a few bucks..

Agree that mine was shipped by UPS from another U.S. distributor and I paid $90 for HST and duty and special handling fees (classified as legal extortion, as in 'I've got your package, how badly do you want it'). This is on top of the $35 shipping I paid to the distributor. In total UPS charged me $50 more for this special handling fee. Private carriers get away with this and so they charge it.

I also had a unit shipped from Florida by USPS (US Postal Service) and there is no special handling fees and they pass the package on to Canada Post for delivery in Canada. Sometimes a distributor does not want to deal with USPS because they need to make a trip to the post office, whereas with the private carriers they will pick up the item at the distributor's address.

While trying to fix my reception problems, I took note of some information which sheds light on the CM7000PAL's tuner. Since it has a dual tuner, of course the DVR has a splitter built right in to the box. This effectively lowers the signal as soon as you plug it in.

My installer is suggesting a distribution amp right before the DVR to compensate. I'll let you know how that goes once my equipment is all sorted out.

Agree, I installed a distribution amp and it brought in all the stations I should normally get. Also, you want to install the amp at a point that is no further than about 50 feet from the antenna, as too long of a coax cable run degrades the signal also.

Sometimes a distributor does not want to deal with USPS because they need to make a trip to the post office, whereas with the private carriers they will pick up the item at the distributor's address.
USPS does do customer pick ups but I'm not sure how it works. But it's usually the case that the sender doesn't want to deal with having to trek to the post office and (usually) stand in line.

USPS does do customer pick ups but I'm not sure how it works.

You need to be regular customer with more then 100 shipments a month to qualify for this.

i got my channel master dvr in January and so far it has been great. Better reception than my toshiba tuner.

I picked up the CM-7000PAL today at Save and Replay in Mississauga. Even though I may have been able to save a few bucks by ordering online, I didn't want to wait--and it was a good opportunity to check out the store.

Small store, easy to find. Friendly and knowledgeable staff. Busy place!

So far so good with the DVR. I already have a Bell 9241, so the device and interface (which are made by the same manufacturer) are familiar. I may have to disable the IR port on the Bell box, as the PAL uses the same codes.

Signal sensitivity, adjacent channel rejection, and overall reception quality is on par with my Sony Bravia's ATSC tuner. Channel scan speed is somewhat slower than the Bravia.

I may have to disable the IR port on the Bell box, as the PAL uses the same codes.
You can change the IR channel on the bell box.

I see there's a way to change the RF channel that the Bell box operates on. Nothing for changing IR.

I picked up a PAL at S&R a month or so ago. I agree, great little store, people are a pleasure to deal with.

The PAL is working out fine so far. There are some similarities to my Bell box, and there are a few things that it doesn't do quite as well, like name-based timers but it's acceptable. One day I turned it on and I guess it must've been an exceptionally clear day because it informed me that it found and added 3 additional channels (26.1-3). They disappeared later that day and never returned but I just thought it was cool that it 'discovered' them on it's own without me initiating a search.

Some observations after a few days' use:

This unit definitely likes a lot of signal. While tuner performance is close to my Bravia, I may need to add a distribution amp to my setup to prevent weaker channels from breaking up occasionally. Using the tuner on my Sony, you can certainly see the signal loss through the analog-pass through.

For whatever reason, the unit is less sensitive to channel 26 (WNYB Jamestown). Even when I point the antenna directly at Jamestown, I still get dropouts on this channel--which doesn't occur with the Sony tuner.

It's so nice to be able to pause live TV once again!

I see there's a way to change the RF channel that the Bell box operates on. Nothing for changing IR.
Jase, according to the instructions, you can change address for remote 1, which is IR only. I've never tried it, but i suspect it works, there are people with more than 1 reciever.
1. Press SYSTEM INFO on the receiver's front panel. The System Information screen
displays on the nearby TV and shows the Remote Address.
Write down the Secondary Remote Address:___________________
If changing the address for Remote Control 1, write down the Primary Remote
Address:___________________
2. Press and hold SAT on your remote control for about three seconds, until all of the
mode buttons light up, and then let go of SAT.
3. Use the NUMBER PAD to enter any number between 1 and 16, but not the one you
wrote in step 1.
4. Press POUND (#). If you entered the address correctly, SAT will flash three times.
Write down the number you entered:___________________
5. Press RECORD. Make sure the Remote Address you see on the System Information
screen is the same as the one you entered in step 3. If it isn't, the remote cannot
control the receiver.
6. Press SELECT to close the System Information screen.