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TiVos for HD OTA in Canada

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359K views 1K replies 137 participants last post by  Jase88 
#1 ·
all of these DVD recorders seem to record in either EDTV or SDTV but not HDTV
To record HDTV you're not going to get much on a single layer DVD (cheapest media). If you're going to use DL you might as well get a BDU subscription, because at current prices if you record a few one hour shows per week, you could almost get a HD PVR from a BDU.

I'm hoping (fingers crossed behind back) that someone will come out with a HDTV PVR with an ATSC tuner - other than the Tivo 3 (which stampeder I think you forgot to mention in the list above). At least one DHCer (Dajad) is using a Tivo 3 as his ATSC tuner/PVR. Unfortunately, and I'm really not trying to troll here, the Tivo 3 IMHO is overpriced for Canadians as we cannot (legally) take advantage of all the functionality the Tivo3 offers. Still a great STB /PVR for those who can afford it.

cheers,
99gecko
 
#29 ·
Well, pshseek is right. Did a new guided setup and put in my Canadian Postal code and everything came up correctly. All Shaw analog cable channels and all Canadian OTA HD with guide data. Don't know when this happened, but it's great (not that I am interested in recording many lo-def shows off the analog channels, but it's nice to have).

As the pioneer of Tivo HD OTA in Canada, I wonder if Dajak knows about this. Are you out there Dajak?
 
#31 ·
What about DIGITAL cable channels?

Did a new guided setup and put in my Canadian Postal code and everything came up correctly. All Shaw analog cable channels and all Canadian OTA HD with guide data.
Has any HD TiVo owner done a fresh guided setup -- someone who subscribes to digital cable? I would love to know whether the TiVo guide updates include Rogers digital. This would be as close to TiVo nirvana as we could get in CableCard-less Toronto: a bunch of HD OTA channels, plus all the Rogers SD channels.
 
#32 ·
It won't have the Roges digital guide without a cablecard, and of course, Rogers does not offer cablecards. Digital cable guide data relies on virtual channel numbers, without a cablecard to do the mapping, you get the QAM channel numbers, which have no guide data.

It will have Rogers analog though.
 
#33 ·
ATSC Tuner

Hello,

Does anyone know if the ATSC tuner in the Tivo HD or series 3 is good and sensitive ?

Also what generation is the tuner ?

I asking this because I would have to plug my CM4228 with CM7777 to the Tivo instead of my Samsung plamsa 42a450 and would need a good tuner.

I would plug the 4221 for local channel in the Samsung tuner.

Can I also use a splitter between the TV and Tivo instead ? or I will loose some signal because of the splitter lost ?


Thanks,

Intravino
 
#34 ·
I have direct line-of-sight to the transmitters on Mt. Seymour, so I don't really need a great receiver. I do remember when the Tivo Series 3 came out 2 years ago (of which the Tivo HD is a variation) a lot of people were saying that it is an extremely good ATSC receiver. I think you could generally be assured that it is one of the better ones out there.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Hey all just a quick update, got my tivo, did the setup and its working great.

I used my milton postal code so about half of the HD channels I recieve have

guide info. I'm hopeful that tivo will wake up and realize the potential for

sales in the canadian OTA market and add guide info for all my buffalo stations,

though I fear or perhaps tivo fears possible crtc hassles if they where to

provide them, and I'm sure Bell and Rogers would fight it, only to protect our

Canadian heritage of course.
 
#38 ·
I'm hopeful that tivo will wake up and realize the the potential for sales in the canadian OTA market and add guide info for all my buffalo stations,
though I fear or perhaps tivo fears possible crtc hassles if they where to provide them, and I'm sure Bell and Rogers would fight it, only to protect our Canadian heritage of course.
This has nothing to do with the CRTC -TiVo's support of Canada has always been fairly weak - for several years I was part of a community that provided "roll-your-own" guide data using info from XMLTV. TiVo did start loosely supporting Canada a few years ago but that was primarily for their SD models. Supposedly the problem with HD data is that the guide data providers do not provide the input to TiVo - or to other similar products such as MCE.
 
#37 · (Edited)
I'm going to post this question here as if I get an answer It may help other

Tivo users. I have four channels with no picture yet they have a good signal

strength, they are 23-2, 47-1, 52-1 and 69-1. Now here's where it gets interesting,

Tivo provides guide info for 47-1 and 52-1 when I was searching for info on the

forum I found that 52-1 which I have guide info but no picture may have moved

to 66-1 which has a picture but no guide. and the same may be true for 47-1

and 64-1. I have not been able to find any reason for no picture on 23-2 or 69-1.

anyways if anyone can understand what the heck I just wrote and has any

insight I'd be grateful.
 
#39 ·
Wayne, I think Chudsmith is talking about getting US OTA channel guide info when he puts in his Canadian Postal Code. As outlined earlier in the thread, I was happily surprised to find that Tivo has quietly started to provide full cable and OTA guide data in Canada.

And, I think I know what community you are referring to. It was a great help to me in those dark days post-DTV and pre-canadian support.
 
#40 · (Edited)
For anyone interested I thought I'd mention that If you have a Tivo HD unit and a blu-ray player there is a way to back up full HD programs from your Tivo on DVD and play it using your blu-ray player. Which comes in handy if your Tivo has a smaller Drive like mine ( only 20 hrs of HD content ).

First you need to connect your Tivo to your home network.

Second download Tivo Desktop form Tivo.com. this will allow you to transfer
recorded content from your Tivo to your home computer.

third you will need to download a program called VideoRedo with this you can
remove the commercials by selecting ad-detective. Click the Save as
button in VideoRedo to save the recording without commercials to your
hard drive in .MPG 2 format.

fourth burn the saved MPG 2 file to a dvd or dvd-dl disc. just burn it as a
data disc and finalize it.

this works with my PS3 and most sony blu-ray disc players. you can't just put it in the player and press play, you need to select the disc in the players menu. if this does not work in your player I would advise you do a firmware update and try again as the ability to play MPG 2 format was not available in earlier models of players.
you can also convert the MPG 2 file to AVCHD format,but the conversion process takes about 5 days for an average movie ( seriously ).
 
#42 ·
Congratulations Chung on your decision in purchasing a Tivo HD. I bought mine in North Carolina. I believe it's the only way in buying one for anybody planning on using it here in Canada. You need to go State side, pick one up and drive it back. The Tivo website will not deliver to Canada.
 
#43 ·
There is the guy in Alberta that sell it and it is much more expensive then going to the States ( even with exchange rate ) and plus you cannot return it.

If I purchase a tivoHD, I will go myself purchase it and have the 30 days return in case.
 
#46 ·
Just a quick update for those of you who have an HD TiVo. I managed to get TiVo to manually add some of my missing stations from Buffalo, specifically 2.1 , 4.1 and 7.1. thats NBC, ABC and CBS. For some reason they haven't yet managed to get me FOX or PBS, they say there working on it. Still I'm pretty happy and hopefully with a little more nagging they'll come through.
 
#48 ·
Just a quick update for those of you who have an HD TiVo. I managed to get TiVo to manually add some of my missing stations from Buffalo, specifically 2.1 , 4.1 and 7.1. thats NBC, ABC and CBS.
OK, so I'm still using the Niagara Zipcode to get my listings, and off antenna I get listings for the following channels.
Code:
2-1	WGRZDT
2-2	WGRZDT2
2-3	WGRZDT3
4-1	WIVBDT	
5-1	CBLTDT	
7-1	WKBWDT
9-1	CFTODT
11-1	CHCHDT
17-1	WNEDDT
17-2	WNEDDT2
17-3	WNEDDT3
23-1	WNLODT
25-1	CBLFTDT
26-1	WNYBDT
26-2	WNYBDT2
29-1	WUTVDT
29-2	WUTVDT2
36-1	CITSDT
41-1	CIIIDT
44-1	OMNI2 - picture OK, no listings
47-1	CFMTDT - listings OK, no picture
49-1	WNYODT
49-2	WNYODT2
51-1	WPXJDT
51-2	WPXJDT2
51-3	WPXJDT3
51-4	WPXJDT4
52-1	CKXTDT - listings OK, no picture
57-1	CITYDT
64-1	OMNI1 - picture OK, no listings
66-1	CKXT-DT - picture OK, no listings
69-1	CJMTDT - listings OK, no picture
The OMNI's seem to be broken because Tivo expects them to do a PSIP remap, which they aren't doing. Same with CKXT (SunTV)

What would I be missing if I changed over to using my Canadian postal code?
 
#47 ·
Hey Chudsmith, i've had an open ticket for a channel line-up update thru the tivo website for both Fox and Wnyo for 3 weeks. Oddly enough, i get PBS channel info for 17.1. Try maybe running guided setup again and see if it shows up. Will update when i see guide info for Fox/WNYO.
 
#49 ·
Well if you used a canadian postal code instead of the zipcode, you would lose:

WNYB-DT
WUTV-DT
WNYO-DT
WPXJ-DT2
WPXJ-DT3
WPXJ-DT4
ckxt-dt

These are the only OTA channels I'm currently missing guide info for. I'd use a Niagara zidcode but i also use Tivo for Rogers analog cable listings. I don't think i could use both. I wish Tivo would stay on top of this and allow us to manually add channel info via a stations call letter search engine or something. Kind of like titan.tv
 
#50 ·
Hey Pshseek sorry it took me so long to reply, been away. I've done what you mentioned many times, Ive also tryed ( clear program guide and to do list ). I called TiVo today and they say there still working on it, which is fine by me. I never thought I'd get the ones I have now. Even with the issues getting all the Bufalo stations I don't regret getting the Tivo It works great.
 
#51 ·
Chudsmith, do you have a OTA only setup or is Tivo giving you program info for cable? I tried calling Tivo once not too long ago and after being on hold for an hour, I hung up and vowed never to call again. I go on their website and create a "ticket" for a channel line-up change. The first one i did, i reported that i wasnt' getting NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and WNYO guide info. About a month later NBC, CBS and ABC showed up in my guide. Looking back it probably was just a coincidence. I mean, why add just three instead of them all? Guess I'll keep creating line-up change tickets. I love my Tivo and don't plan on giving it up.
 
#52 ·
Hey Pshseek. I have OTA and Cogeco basic Cable, but almost never watch anything but OTA HD. I keep the basic cable for the wife she watches A&E alot. I watch all kinds of new shows I never bothered with before the OTA HD channels. I'll use TiVo, find programs , HD, and just browse for anything interesting. Which is why It would be awsome to get FOX and PBS as they both have shows I really like. If TiVo ever gets the line up complete I can't imagine a better DVR for OTA. I got my TiVo HD unit from amazon.com for $ 250.00 and had my dad bring it home for me, I already had a standard TiVo digital box from future shop on a monthly plan so when I got the life time subscription for my HD unit it was $ 299.00 thats $ 100.00 off. I payed more than that for my Bell Digital PVR unit and It only works with Bell. I wish HBO transmitted OTA and you could just pay them for a de-scrambler or something. Cable companies need to go.
 
#53 ·
Tivo update: Still not getting any guide info for outstanding channels but they took away NBC's guide info. WTF!! Yet they left everything else. Chudsmith, do you have Cogeco going thru the Tivo? If so how'd u run the guided setup with canadian cable and a american zipcode for ota? Maybe i should run setup again. I love my Tivo but this is getting riduculous. Last week i got an email from tivo line-up issue department asking for an official channel lineup card from Rogers. This after i have specifically said in two emails that the problem is not getting guide info for my scanned ota channels. The saga continues...... :confused:
 
#54 · (Edited)
Hey pshseek I use my Milton postal code not a US one. I'm at work so I'll have to check and post back if I've lost any stations. I also got an email asking for detailed guide info from Tivo and called to ask, what the hell I've only given it 10 times. The Tivo rep told me it was a good thing and that it was sent from the lineup people and to reply, I only sent information about my OTA and an explanation that my cable is all good. I'm not about to send them a list of 200 cable stations that are all good. My advise would be to try a guided setup using your home postal code. Good luck.
 
#55 · (Edited)
Hey Pshseek. You should call Tivo and complain / threaten them, that's what I'll do if I lose NBC. You are part of this forum and can share honest information regarding Tivo's service or lack there of. They should be aware that. There is a growing number of OTA enthusiasts in Canada and many of them use this forum to share info.

I truely belive that the Tivo HD unit is superior to all others but without proper guide information what good is it.

By the way I have never had to wait for a rep when calling during business hours. So try calling during a break. The last time I called and complained they gave me a couple months of free service.
 
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