Tivo coming to canada!

[rage2]

No official announcement yet, but the latest Tivo software allows entering a Canadian postal code, selecting a canadian provider, and getting canadian guide data.

[Ben]

Gold, this is terrific news. Thanks for the update. What's the estimated cost of running this service? (unit price, options)

[benyl]

'bout fucking time.

[rage2]

Last time I bought one, $49usd for the unit (40GB), and $10usd/month for service. Hard drives are upgradable so slap in a 400GB drive and get 800hrs of recording time. Slap in 2 of them and get 1600hrs of recording time.

Not like there's 800hrs of canadian shows available anyways ;).

edit - $12.95usd for 1st tivo, $6.95usd for additional tivos. hehe turns out I've been paying for my standalone tivos still even tho I haven't used it in like two years lol. Maybe I should read my credit card statements more often lol.

Time to bust 'em out and connect 'em back up.

[Raz]

why do you have to pay 10 a month for 'service'? Is it just the channel guide you are paying for?

- Rasmus

[Kaos]

Ok, Im a little behind the times in electronics.
I know what tivo is but can someone explain to me what else it does.

:nut:

[benyl]

http://www.tivo.com/0.0.asp

[rage2]

Originally posted by Raz
why do you have to pay 10 a month for 'service'? Is it just the channel guide you are paying for?

- Rasmus
You pay for the guide data as well as their features. You can pay $299usd for lifetime service if you want. I opted for monthly because lifetime follows that tivo box, and I upgrade regularly so it wouldn't make sense.

Originally posted by Kaos
Ok, Im a little behind the times in electronics.
I know what tivo is but can someone explain to me what else it does.

:nut:
Basically, it's a PVR, like what shaw and bell expressvu has. Except Tivo has really cool features that nobody else has to make it record exactly what you want. See here for details of some of their features:

http://www.tivo.com/1.2.asp

Not listed on that page is suggestions. Every program you watch, you can give it 1, 2 or 3 thumbs up or thumbs down. Tivo takes this information and compiles a list of shows that it thinks you like based on your ratings. From there, when the tivo isn't recording anything, it will record the suggestions. After about a month of starting service, it gets fairly accurate.

Why does nobody else have tivo specific features? They're patented.

[Raz]

I like this, think I'll get a Tivo :)

Good stuff Rage2, keep the good news a coming ;)

[Ramdawg]

Finally, tivo is going to be tight if it comes

[JAYMEZ]

god damn about time.

[sCream]

Doesnt Shaw Already have something pretty close to this? Or am i missing something. My friend got a new box from Shaw, its in HD, and records Tv onto its hard drive.. is there a big difference?

[Khyron]

So it piggybacks on your current service provider, and works with Bell/Shaw or whatever? I thought Tivo was more like directTV? (I are still newb on basic cable until the fuckers give me a package that meets my needs).

Khyron

[Raz]

sCream, yes shaw already has a similar service on their cable, however the features aren't nearly as cool as TiVO and there aren't as many upgrades/hacks/funschtuff out for the PVR's as there are for the TiVO's :)

[GoChris]

so, we could get a tivo box now....and it would work when they rolled out the service?

[rage2]

Originally posted by Khyron
So it piggybacks on your current service provider, and works with Bell/Shaw or whatever? I thought Tivo was more like directTV? (I are still newb on basic cable until the fuckers give me a package that meets my needs).

Khyron
It actually works very well with basic cable, the built in tuner makes analog cable the easiest way to set it up. If you use digital cable, it basically feeds your receiver/set top box outputs into the tivo and you watch your tivo, not the provider's box. The Tivo then controls channel changes with an IR emitter.

Originally posted by GoChris
so, we could get a tivo box now....and it would work when they rolled out the service?
Apparantly, it's working today. Actually about a week ago when they mass rolled out the latest software. I haven't played with it yet though, have to go to the basement and open up my tivo boxes! Going to hook it up to one of my bell receivers to see how well it works.

[Thaco]

http://www.byopvr.com/

i biult my own better than TIVO pvr with dual tuners (upgradable to 12 tuners) and a 250gb hdd (upgradable to as many gb's as i can afford (up to 6 drives as i have a mobo with raid. :D) for like $400 and a bunch of parts i had laying around.

[benyl]

You can get a Tivo for $50 USD on ebay and it works out of the box. Why spend 8 times that and have a headache trying to configure it to get it to work?

[Impreza]

Does the Tivo automatically download new software and allow you to use it? You need a US mailing address though right?

[googe]

too many people confuse tivo with a pvr :) lots of people make/sell PVRs, but its the patented features rage2 mentioned (among others) that make tivo more than just a pvr. offerings from shaw/starchoice and the like dont even compare!

[ca2p3r]

rage2 please let me know how it works with the bell!

[rage2]

Well, I got it setup with basic cable. Took a whopping 30 minutes. Works perfect!

New ZIP code screen. Press ENTER to enter cdn postal code:
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/tivo/tivoca1.jpg

Canadian postal code screen:
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/tivo/tivoca2.jpg

Cable provider selection:
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/tivo/tivoca3.jpg

Tivo w/basic cable:
http://www.virgeweb.com/rage2/tivo/tivoca4.jpg

Sorry for the horrible pics, didn't have a chance to use a screen cap utility. I played around with what's available, and it seems every Calgary provider is available, so I'd assume all of Canada. Shaw cable (basic + cablebox), bell expressvu and starchoice.

[sputnik]

http://www.tivo.com/1.6.1.asp#9

[googe]

where is my hd tivo!

[rage2]

There's a cablecard HD tivo in the works, but since both Shaw and Rogers will NOT be supporting cablecard, it's not going to work here.

The problem is cablecard 1.0 is only one way. Cablecard 2.0 is going to be 2-way so cable providers have better control, but that's a long ways away. AFAIK, Cablecard tivo is based on cablecard 1.0.

Also, FCC mandates cablecard support in the US. CRTC in Canada doesn't. Canada is in no rush to support cablecard when providers have their network and infrastructure geared towards their set top boxes.

[googe]

still wouldnt help for satellite customers :( considering the money starchoice just wasted on their POS pvr, i cant really expect them to look in to making a deal with tivo any time soon :)

[rage2]

Originally posted by googe
still wouldnt help for satellite customers :( considering the money starchoice just wasted on their POS pvr, i cant really expect them to look in to making a deal with tivo any time soon :)
It works with satellite. Tivo comes with an IR blaster, so your satellite output gets sent to the Tivo, choose your receiver in Tivo setup, then hook up the IR blaster to the IR input of your receiver. When it's time to change the channel, Tivo sends out the commands to do it, and voila, channel changed!

edit - n/m, you were talking about HD. Ya, no good for satellite HD.

[googe]

Originally posted by rage2

It works with satellite. Tivo comes with an IR blaster, so your satellite output gets sent to the Tivo, choose your receiver in Tivo setup, then hook up the IR blaster to the IR input of your receiver. When it's time to change the channel, Tivo sends out the commands to do it, and voila, channel changed!

edit - n/m, you were talking about HD. Ya, no good for satellite HD.

actually that gives me another idea that probably wont but maybe will work. if i have a starchoice hd pvr, and a SD tivo box, it should be possible to use the tivo's IR blaster to turn on the starchoice pvr and tell it when and where to record, and not bother actually recording on the tivo. :dunno:

the tivo will already do everything to the starchoice receiver except press the record button, as long as you could make it do that, you should get all the goodness of tivo powering the other box...

[the-240sx-guy]

Originally posted by rage2
turns out I've been paying for my standalone tivos still even tho I haven't used it in like two years lol. Maybe I should read my credit card statements more often lol.

Time to bust 'em out and connect 'em back up.

rage, are you looking to get rid of any of your TIVO boxes? im quite interested in picking one up

[rage2]

I have a series one that I could part with, upgraded hdd's and all, but it doesn't support canada. Only series 2 supports canada.

[dsmturbo]

Are these just standalone Tivo boxes that you are referring to, or can this be done with a DTV HDVR2 box?

Can this box be used just to record off another input..say BellVu

[rage2]

These are standalone boxes. DirecTivos (HD or SD) do not work with any provider other than DirecTV.

[the-240sx-guy]

Originally posted by rage2
I have a series one that I could part with, upgraded hdd's and all, but it doesn't support canada. Only series 2 supports canada.

hmm, i think i will have to pass. I would want a series 2 so i could use it with Shaw

[dragonone]

where would i get a tivo (series2) here and what cable system does it work with? (shaw, direcTV?)
btw, what's a gd hack site i can read so i can start early in playing with the series 2 stuff

50 bux for a box seems so much more comparable than the 500 bux one shaw offers

[rage2]

You can buy series 2 tivos from any US retailer. Tivo wont ship to Canada. Try ebay too.

gd hack is a hack to the firmware to allow modifications to the Tivo files. You have to do the gd hack in order to install your own apps such as TivoWeb onto the Tivo.

The $50 box will outperform any Shaw box out there. It works for Shaw (Analog and digital), ExpressVu, and Starchoice.

[benyl]

You have to be careful. There is a Series 2 box out there that cannot be hacked (yet). I didn't get the $50 they are offering right now because I was sure of the model number (I suspect the newest ones are unhackable).

I got one off ebay where I knew the model number for $100 CDN shipped. Should be here soon... damn snail mail.

[Oz-]

How difficult is it to upgrade the HDD out of the Tivo boxes? I will be in San Fran in 2 weeks and was thinking of picking up a couple of these boxes.

[rage2]

Very easy to upgrade HDD's. Tivo's generally comes with 1 80GB HDD. You can put 2 drives in a tivo. So you can put in a 2nd large drive (not recommended because you have no backup of original drive) or you can copy the original drive to a new 300GB drive (or 2 300GB drives if u want like 1000 hrs of recording).

Basically plug the drives into your computer, boot off a free downloadable CD from the various tivo hacking sites, run BlessTivo and answer all the questions. Plug the new drives in the tivo and voila, tons of space.

[the-240sx-guy]

do Tivo's just take regular computer HDD's?

Which model numbers should i be avoiding if i am going to be picking one up from Ebay?

[benyl]

I've been looking for the model number for most of the day... haha, I will find it.

[benyl]

Found it.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=254550&highlight=non+hackable+Tivo


DirecTV Tivo R10
Tivo TCD540040
TiVo TCD540080
TiVo TCD540140
Humax T800
Humax DRT400
Humax DRT800
Humax T2500
Toshiba RS-TX20
Toshiba RS-TX60

[jnormand]

Hi I have a satalite startchoice service and im using a receiver. Will I be able to use Tivo im going down to california at the end of October so.

[benyl]

should be able to. I think that you might need to buy some sort of IR changer so that it can change the channel of your SC receiver.

[the-240sx-guy]

so any model in this list will not work in Canada?

looking on ebay, i cant seem to find any model that is not on that list and yet Rage2 says every series 2 will work in Canada?

[mushi_mushi]

Original Post Removed. (Please read the Forum Rules and Terms of Use (http://forums.beyond.ca/articles.php?action=data&item=1) before posting again, or risk getting banned).

[benyl]

Originally posted by the-240sx-guy
so any model in this list will not work in Canada?

looking on ebay, i cant seem to find any model that is not on that list and yet Rage2 says every series 2 will work in Canada?

Any model will work in Canada. The models shown above cannot be hacked without an eeprom hack (you have to solder).

You can upgrade the hard drive in the models mentioned above, but you cannot do any application hacks, like Tivo Web, etc.

(haha, I think I beat you in an auction for one about a week ago.)

[the-240sx-guy]

Originally posted by benyl

(haha, I think I beat you in an auction for one about a week ago.)

lol that was you? are u bjwinkel?

i have a humax t800 80hr on its way, cant wait till it gets here

are u going to be paying for subscription monthly? or are you going to get the lifetime?

[rage2]

Originally posted by benyl
should be able to. I think that you might need to buy some sort of IR changer so that it can change the channel of your SC receiver.
Tivo comes with the IR blaster. No need to buy it separately.

Originally posted by the-240sx-guy
are u going to be paying for subscription monthly? or are you going to get the lifetime?
Dont bother with lifetime subscription. At these prices, you can upgrade to newer cooler models every year or two. Lifetime sub is lifetime of one particular unit. You can't transfer it to another.

[mushi_mushi]

You stated in your thread that you are paying 10US a month..I was under the impression that tivo charges 13US a month and recently came up with a stipulation that if you go monthly you have to pay for one year of monthly service....

Paying monthly is somewhat like renting, in the end you have nothing to show for your investment...if you pay the lifetime fee your tivo retains alot of the value....otherwise you'll be lucky to get a 100 for a stock tivo....

[rage2]

Like I said, depends on your upgrade schedule. There's always new stuff out, I upgrade every year or so.

Additional tivos are only $7/month. You need to sub for 43 months or 3 1/2 years in order to pay off the lifetie sub fee. There's no way I'd keep a tivo for 3 1/2 years ;).

For those that want to keep the tivo forever, get the lifetime.

[mushi_mushi]

How many gigs did you upgrade your tivo to...I bought a tivo that had a bad hard drive on ebay but have not gotten around to re-imaging it...im just waiting for the 300 gig hard drives to get really cheap, allways happens in december close to christmas or new year...

Also have you used stuff like tivo2go or tivo web, do you find these features usefull...

[benyl]

Originally posted by mushi_mushi
You stated in your thread that you are paying 10US a month..I was under the impression that tivo charges 13US a month and recently came up with a stipulation that if you go monthly you have to pay for one year of monthly service....

Paying monthly is somewhat like renting, in the end you have nothing to show for your investment...if you pay the lifetime fee your tivo retains alot of the value....otherwise you'll be lucky to get a 100 for a stock tivo....

Um, I just bought two tivos for less than $100 US. I would hope that they would be worth $100 when I am done with them. If not, who cares! haha

[mushi_mushi]

Pretty good find...I know that currently tivo is offering units for 50 US after refunds...Personally I think decent deals can be found on ebay, as long as you buy the 40gig models you dont pay the high premium and the hard drive space doesnt matter for most people because they will upgrade the drives...out of curiousity where did you purchase your units...

Thats exactly what I meant as far as tivo units with no subscribtion as being dirt cheap...if you look at units that have subscribtion they routinly go for 200-300US so in a way the lifetime service pays off, if you intend to sell your tivo in the future that is...

Ive got my tivo but still thinking about which service plan is right for me...dont want to pay an arm and a leg...

[Synthetic]

I am so outdated, can someone help answer some questions for me on this whole TiVo thing?

I can go to the states and buy box, just hook it up and enter my postal code, and then it'll work? How do I actually subscribe to the service and who bills me?

Also... anyone know if the $150 rebate will work in Canada? Otherwise it looks like my only option would be eBay?

Thanks!

[Raz]

Yes, someone please verify which model to get so I can start my crazy ebaying? ;)

[benyl]

Tivo will not ship or mail anything to Canada yet. The rebate will only work if you send it to someone you know in the states.

As far as billing, they just take your credit card.

I got both of mine on ebay. I intend on moding them, so I got models that can be modded. The models that they are currently selling in the store fall under the list I posted above.

You can get ANY series 2 that isn't in the list I posted if you want to mod.

If you just want to use the service, you can buy any series 2. It will work in Canada.

[Oz-]

Just got back.

Picked up a 5400 series 2 from Best Buy. They actually had it for 180 with a 150 rebate, so it works out to 30 bucks american for me.

The rebate is going to my family in the Bay Area which will eventually make its way up here for me. Tivo is really dropping their prices in the states now, because of competition from the DVR that comcast is selling/renting out.

[benyl]

Originally posted by Oz-
Just got back.

Picked up a 5400 series 2 from Best Buy. They actually had it for 180 with a 150 rebate, so it works out to 30 bucks american for me.

The rebate is going to my family in the Bay Area which will eventually make its way up here for me. Tivo is really dropping their prices in the states now, because of competition from the DVR that comcast is selling/renting out.

nice purchase. The only problem with the 5400 series is that you can't hack the software. The only thing you can do with it is upgrade the hard drive.

The software hacks I am talking about are for easier use, not for stealing the service or anything.

[Oz-]

Originally posted by benyl


nice purchase. The only problem with the 5400 series is that you can't hack the software. The only thing you can do with it is upgrade the hard drive.

The software hacks I am talking about are for easier use, not for stealing the service or anything.

Couple of things with this tivo, it was for the wife. So that I can get rid of the stupid pile of VHS tapes for her 50 shows that she records. So really as long as she can use it, then its happiness for me.

One thing I don't like about this is there is no dual tuner. Probably a more expensive model of a tivo that has a dual tuner, but you have to use a different tv feed while the 5400 records.

Benyl - Do you mind PM'ing some details on the easier use hacks etc?

[benyl]

easy solution. Split your cable source and feed the tivo into your tv using RCA cables. Use the tuner on your tv while the Tivo records.

www.tivocommunity.com will have all your hacking needs.

[Oz-]

Originally posted by benyl
easy solution. Split your cable source and feed the tivo into your tv using RCA cables. Use the tuner on your tv while the Tivo records.

Which I am doing, but just not as clean as a dual tuner solution. Yes I am nitpciking here but I really like the motorola dual tuner HD DVR that Comcast and Shaw have. But at 750 clams it is way too cost prohibitive right now.

[benyl]

yeah, I just went ahead and bought 2 tivos.

[the-240sx-guy]

whats wrong with my tivo?

i have hooked up right and i get the screen that says "Tivo powering up...etc"

but right after that my screen goes blank and i get a blue screen on my tivo.

i unplug the tivo and plug it back and i get the same results.

first the "tivo powering up" then a blue screen

any ideas?

[Oz-]

It took my tivo about 10 mins or so for it to go through its boot process out of the box.

[the-240sx-guy]

this process is taking about 3mins then it stops and goes to the blue screen

are u saying that this is part of the setup and i should leave it for 10mins?

[benyl]

yeah, mine took ages to boot up the first time. Then it also took forever to connect via phone to get everything. It is a lengthy process.

My Tivo now goes through my broadband connection. Glad I don't have to go through that issue again.

[the-240sx-guy]

its just wierd because it goes from a Tivo screen to a blank blue screen, usually this means that there is no video going into that connection video input.

but ill guess ill wait and see what happens.

did any of your screens go blue? or did it stay on the yellow tivo screen?

[Oz-]

I just know that it went Tivo powering up for a while, another screen came up. Not sure what it said to be honest as I was unpacking and doing laundrey.

Maybe just leave it for an hour or so and see what happens.

[benyl]

can't remember. I got bored and started to surf beyond while waiting.

[the-240sx-guy]

im still stuck on the blue screen after like 30mins...

not getting any video at all, but when i hit the buttons on the tivo remote, it makes sounds...

[the-240sx-guy]

Does anyone have a Tivo series 2 that they want to sell to me locally ??

If so pm me

[benyl]

Did you buy it on ebay?

[the-240sx-guy]

yah i bought this on ebay, tivo tech support says it looks like i have a dead hard drive...

[Mike_man44]

Alright, so I know which model numbers not to get, but is there a list of the Series 2 boxes that are hackable? Can't find a list.

I'm a little cautious about eBaying it too because almost all of them are used. Anyone have a good site to order them online that will ship to Canada?

Thanks.

[rage2]

quick bump, I guess a lot of newbies are PM'ing me lately because this thread comes up pretty high on google rankings for tivo in canada.

The Series 3 Tivo (HD) doesn't work in Canada. It uses Cablecard, which none of the cable providers in Canada support.

[benyl]

haha, I am not a noob. Just lazy... hahaha

[Billet]

no HD recording for TIVO... then its not as good as the current PVR's... no point getting excited yet.

[GoChris]

is there plans for cablecard support? cause that would rule

[rage2]

Originally posted by benyl
haha, I am not a noob. Just lazy... hahaha
haha you were the one that prompted the bump lol. Ya, I've been getting msgs every few days over this thread haha.