TiVos for HD OTA in Canada

[johnvan]

Good to hear, I'll let my friends know, it sounds like a good option.

[jft436]

I bought a refurbished unit and I am still going strong after 2 years. I took delivery in the USA so I presume u will have to ship it to an american address. What you have to watch is the rental fee for service that seems to vary from $12.95 to $19.95 usually cutomers pay 14.99 depending on your purchase price plan. Some had it as low as 9.95 that was a one time special and it applied only to antenna.

This unit does not work with cable in Canada because none of the providers use the cable card system.

I am quite happy witrh the service and their help phone in line is quite good.

[awebber]

I bought a refurb Premiere from Woot very recently, I think it was U$50 (maybe U$55) shipped to a US address. It came back under the 48hr tax exemption which is now C$800 per person per trip. Note that the refurbs (including mine) seem to be the 320GB HD and new ones ship with 500GB?

I assume the guide info is good for OTA, it's been pretty good on the Series 2 (cable) ones, though for example they've got the episodes of Nurse Jackie misidentified on the various M stations (note this is analogue cable on a Series 2, not OTA on a Premiere!). I'm unable to see the NF and YT apps on the Premiere (never mind whether they will play or not) and so far TiVo support has been unsuccessful in troubleshooting.

The only issue I have with the guide is quite often tv shows record when I've selected "first run only". I get repeats of certain shows all of the time. So there is an issue with the guide but outside of that it's pretty good.

That happens to me a lot on the Series 2, when there's no episode information the TiVo will record it even if the "R" (Repeat) identifier is there. On the cable units in Montreal, that means it records a lot of 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men on CITY from Toronto, and now CJNT, so often we'll get two copies of the same repeat at the same time. I go in and delete them simply based on being unlabelled and shown at 7pm or 7:30pm, I don't even bother checking the episode.

It's annoying, but on balance I guess it's better for the TiVo to decide what's a repeat. Though it could screw up some first-run stuff if you've got (say) "keep 10 episodes, first run only" and CJNT runs 12 unidentified repeats in 4 days!

=aw

[andrela]

If i were you, I would do a "clear and delete everything" as your unit was refurb and they may not have it done thus preventing netflix and youtube to play.

The guide is usually pretty good, and true, some channels do not provide the correct repeat flag. I tend not to select certain channels due to the.poor guide. Note that the guide is provided by the tv station to Tribune the company that Tivo is buying from.

[awebber]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've done that with no luck. Still get the "Network Unavailable" message (and of there's a TiVo wireless-G adapter plugged in and working).

Redid what TiVo had me do before, I enabled home applications or whatever it's called. I have downloading and sharing enabled on the TiVo site. In the first call I made, they had me disable those on the site, wait for TivoToGo status change from a,a,a to i,i,i and then enable them and wait for status to go back to a,a,a. Unfortunately it only went to a,a,i and was still there a week later. I switched it back to a,a,a but no happiness.

Guess I'll have to start a third call to TiVo. Hope this one is more like the first (understood what I wanted, even though the steps didn't fix it) and not like the second (never did understand what I wanted, I think).

BTW in blowing everything away and starting over, of course it re-scanned antenna channels. I have an indoor omnidirectional propped up in a Montreal window (just testing) and last time I got all the local stations, or all that TVFool predicted anyway (I think one's hidden east of MR). This time I didn't get Global, didn't get 35 (?), and DID get CBS and the two PBSes! I don't know why.

I think the results are roughly in line with TVFool (http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...1349b8424f10c0 not my usual profile) though it says I should get NBC before the second PBS, and for some reason has Fox and ABC in yellow (attic) same as WETK, even though they're at the same location as CBS (maybe different power? I dunno).

Weird to get these additional stations and not get Global.

Thanks!
=aw

[andrela]

You may want to elevate the call to second level if they cannot fix it. There are no reasons why it should not work.

BTW, there is going to be a minor software version release in the next few days. You may want to register to get it first at www.tivo.com/priority

Maybe that will take care of your issue.

[FunkyTown]

Thanks for the tip Andrela!

[andrela]

Minor update has started deployment. Ver. 20.2.1.2.

Hopefully it will resolve some of the spontaneous reboots.

[FunkyTown]

I just received this update today I noticed.

[WalterP]

This most recent update fixed the HD menu problems that appeared immediately after the previous release showed up on my Premiere unit.

[awebber]

You may want to elevate the call to second level if they cannot fix it

Thanks Andrela, I finally had a chance to Chat tonight and after I described the steps taken so far, the Chat agent suggested calling tomorrow to escalate.

I'm concerned about the delay (my doing) in following up on this, my 30 days to cancel the service must be very close to finished. I assume if I call to cancel and it's because they don't have NF working, at the very least they'll extend the cancellation option for another month. A free month would be nice, but I am getting guide info even if I'm not using it (have to mess with the antenna some more).

I forget, will the TiVo Premiere work with an antenna and no program info if I don't have service on it? If not it will be tough to troubleshoot antenna install and placement.

=aw

[andrela]

Your elevated call may ba successful and the rest may be a moot point. You could asked for an extension. It won't hurt. They have all your history so they know what you went through. They are usually very good to help. Ask for a supervisor if the rep doesn't seem receptive. You may have to cancel your sub and re-sub when ready if all fails.

[WalterP]

I recommend that you call and ask for an extension...

I had OTA antenna/reception problems with my first Premiere unit, nothing related to the Tivo hardware or software. When I called to explained the situation, the CSR extended my free test period by another 30 days.

[awebber]

Well I finally got a call escalated and got the answer.

TiVo Series 3 and Series 4 are not supported in Canada and even if some customers are getting Netflix and YouTube, we don't troubleshoot any that don't.

I realize some people here are using a VPN but I understood at least some were accessing Netflix.ca from a TiVo without this workaround.

Is there anywhere that TiVo support for Netflix.ca is officially documented?

Also, is my 30 days to cancel measured from first time the box calls out (which was May 28) or when I register (Jun 3)? Today is 30 days from the first call out and I don't want to find myself committed to a year if I don't even have Netflix and OTA not working well (though it might focus the mind on getting OTA set up in my house!).

Thanks!
=aw

[andrela]

I think you are getting misinformation(I could use another word but will refrein. Kids may be reading) from that person. I had something similar 2 years ago when they said they were not supporting ATSC OTA channel lineup in canada. Suggest you send an email, margret@tivo.com, or tweet to @tivomargret and include your TSN. If i remember, she said that Canada was working. If it is the case, she will help you. Keep your story short and include your Tivo TSN.