Thomson Tivo in Australia?

[econzune]

Hello,

I searched the forum but I could not find a definite answer to this question:
I bought a UK "Thomson Scenium" PAL tuner Tivo.

1. Which OzTivo Image do I have to apply to it?
2. Do the Phillips or Sony images work?
3. I saw a Thomson NZ image on the web (300MB+). Would that work in Australia?

Thank thank you very much for your help.

EZ

[econzune]

I guess I can use simply the Sony or Phillips image?

[Dave Hatt]

There used to be a modified version of the UK Thomson 2.5.5 TiVo image up in the files area of OzTiVo, but I don't see it here (http://www.oztivo.net/oztivofiles/images/) anymore.

Personally I still run this old image on my 3 UK Thomson TiVos because I found that the newer images don't support RGB input on the SCART connector, plus its perfectly stable (my TiVos run without reboots for 6 months+ with no glitches). Sure the features of the newer OzTiVo image would be good, but I would rather have the quality of RGB. Your needs may be different, though, and if you are happy with composite input or RF input then you may be able to load the current image.

[petestrash]

I am currently uploading the old UK image to the server. I strongly suggest using the current Philips image as the UK one has not been updated in over 4 years, and is harder to support if you don't know what you are doing.

You'll find it here (http://www.oztivo.net/oztivofiles/images/old/). in a few hours (it's much larger than the new Philips versions).

Peter.

[Dave Hatt]

Thanks Pete.

For newbies I might add that this image points to the old minnie server and needs to be updated to point the new one. For the sake of completeness I thought I would post the instructions here (credit due to one of Matt Callow's emails from the mailing list):

NOTE: Don't do this if you are running version 1.6 - see the wiki for
how to update 1.6 easily. This should work fine on the UK 2.5.5. image. Essentially this should be done in a telnet session before running guided setup.

This method means you don't have to use an editor. Just type in
everything between --- START --- and --- END --- exactly as shown
below (there are 7 lines to type, hit 'enter' after each line)
You will get some messages displayed after some of the commands, see
below what happens when I run this on my TiVo.
It's probably best to copy and paste these commands from the email
into Hyperterminal (or whatever you are using) one line at a time, to
make sure there are no mistakes.

--- START ---
cd /etc
rw
cp tclient.conf tclient.conf.minnie
sed 's/::131.244.9.101/::65.49.60.197/' tclient.conf.minnie > tclient.conf
ro
diff tclient.conf tclient.conf.minnie
reboot
--- END ---

The following shows the output from my tivo when I ran the commands.
You should see similar results when you run it.

--- SAMPLE OUTPUT ---
[TiVo [p0] ~]# cd /etc
[TiVo [p0] /etc]# rw
File system is now READ/WRITE.
[TiVo [p0] /etc]# cp tclient.conf tclient.conf.minnie
[TiVo [p0] /etc]# sed 's/::131.244.9.101/::65.49.60.197/'
tclient.conf.minnie > tclient.conf
[TiVo [p0] /etc]# ro
File system is now READ ONLY.
[TiVo [p0] /etc]# diff tclient.conf tclient.conf.minnie
29c29
< 127::65.49.60.197:80::
---
> 127::131.244.9.101:80::
[TiVo [p0] /etc]# reboot
--- END SAMPLE OUTPUT ---

[econzune]

Hello all:
Thanks for all you answers. After having read about the all image I decided to go ahead and use the Phillips Image. All went well but I have a problem:
I live in Sydney 2000 NSW and I chose the analogue channel line up from the setup.

The Tivo shows only one channel on live TV: Seven on 07. The picture of this channel is kind of blurry in comparison to the TV picture that I get from the RF cable coming out of the Tivo to the TV. I also believe to have received Nine on 42 last night. I am kind of clueless why the channels are not being properly received. Again, I am in downtown Sydney, my TV signal is the free one (no STB) and I have a LCD flatscreen that shows the inforrmation as shown on the attached PDF. The Tivo channels are also shown and the OzTivo NSW informattion , too. What am I missing? The Tivo uses a Scart cable to a yellow, white, red Chinch output into the LCD.

Can anybody help me?

Thanks!

Thanks guys!
EZ

[Darren King]

As stated via email just because you are in Sydney does not mean your antenna is receiving the main TV transmitters as it may be looking at a "translator" transmitter that serves poor reception areas.

Further as stated via email Channel 42 UHF is *not* channel 9 in Sydney and the Sydney TiVo FTA Analogue lineup in the headend designates this to Mossman translator for ABC. I have also proven this by sending you the lineup headend in plain text and the official ACMA frequency list for the whole of Australia.

One thing you have not pointed out to people here is that your TV is receiving digital, and that as explained via email the "channel numbers" that your TV displays are not actually channel frequency allocation numbers but PID (Provider ID) numbers and these can relate to anything. To correlate a PID to a particular frequency you need to find this out from an information screen that your TV should be able to show you somewhere and then cross check that back to the ACMA database that I have already sent you. But again, as stated via email, this has no bearing anyway on the TiVo as your TiVo is only capable of receiving analogue TV and not digital.

Also as stated in the email your best starting point would be to borrow a TV that can tune analogue stations and figure out what frequencies it can tune in and then cross check that with the TiVo headend list I sent you. Doing this you will be able to determine if a plain analogue TV can tune in decent quality analogue channels and then be able to work from there. At present because your TV is tuning digital channels this has no relevance to what your TiVo is seeing.

...... or if all this is too confusing you can simply get a cheap $30 digital STB and feed that into the TiVo as the tuner. At least this way you get a few more channels into the bargain that analogue does not broadcast (eg SBS News, ABC2, etc).

[econzune]

Thanks Darren! I was not aware of the small but well connected OzTivo world and thought I'll ask a community, too. In fact you are the OzTivo specialist. So thanks again for your kind email help.

[Darren King]

and thought I'll ask a community, too.
Actually that is the "better" thing to do. More exposure to a wider audience and help. But also happy to correspond via email too. The only thing that can get confusing is when both types of correspondence happen at the same time on the same subject :)


In fact you are the OzTivo specialist. So thanks again for your kind email help.

No problem. And no I'm not *the* specialist. Just one of many who have different expertise. Mine just happens to be electronics at a hardware level.

Hope you can sort out the issue soon. I'm sure it is only something minor being missed.

[econzune]

Dear Darren and other helpers (= Peter!):

My Tivo is finally running. I am still working on some tuning regarding channel selection etc., but it works. I have not tried the "B" way of setting up my remote, will do so on the weekend.

I have three more Qs:

1. One interesting observation is that I cannot enter the "Recorder / Cable setup". If I select that choice and hit "Select" on the remote, it won't go any further. Any ideas what that could be?

2. Also, I have a small HD built in. I am planning on buying a new one. Can I simply copy the old HD on the new one, then increase the primary partition's size?

3. I get my modded XBOX back in a couple of weeks. Can I copy movies onto the XBOX or can I only stream content to the XBOX?

Again: Thank you all very much for getting my Tivo up and running (works with STB, I have no idea why built in PAL tuner (now not needed) does not pick up channels).

[petestrash]

1. A Known issue when running these TiVo's in PAL.

2. Yes, and there are tools (www.mfslive.org) to do this.

3. I know you can stream, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to transfer as long as the xbox can do ftp transfers and you are running mfs_ftp on the TiVo.

Peter.

[econzune]

Thanks Peter!

[econzune]

[QUOTE=petestrash;13980]1. A Known issue when running these TiVo's in PAL.

Can I do anything about this menu freezing up? Can I configure the Tivo to be not PAL? I telnetted, then palmod_config, but it said changes would not be saved.

My Tivo runs fine for ~3 days, then I cannot enter the settings menu. Sometimes I even loose the sound on live TV. I always have to redo guided setup which is kind of annoying.

Thanks for your help!

[petestrash]

I don't really understand what you are saying.

Why do you need to go into the recorder setup menu?

Peter

[Dave Hatt]

Yes, more information on what you are doing when the freeze happens, and why you need to do it.

I have 3 UK TiVos set up with Set-top box inputs, and they all run for months and months and months without any hiccups at all. There must be something you are doing differently (are you using the internal tuner instead of a set-top box?).

[econzune]

Thanks for replying. So here is my problem: If I go to Tivo Central, then New Tivo Messages & Setup, then Recorder & Phone Setup (yielding the "Message and Setup screen"), nothing happens. The screen gets again to the Message and Setup screen.
The reason for going there was for example to induce a manual update of the TV data or do change the remote control setting or to change the channel setup (I have been owning this Tivo for a few weeks only, so there is still a need to play with the setup).
Unfortunately, I cannot access the setup menu. The only way to do so is to reset the Tivo (redo the guided setup).
Any ideas?
Thank you!

[econzune]

The freeze happens when
- I search for shows by title and reach W or X (when I reach the end)
- when I approach the end of the TV guide data flipping through the Live TV guide

Thanks!

[Darren King]

Unfortunately, I cannot access the setup menu. The only way to do so is to reset the Tivo (redo the guided setup).
Any ideas?

http://www.oztivo.net/twiki/bin/view/Install/RedoGuidedSetup

Note the TEXT IN CAPITALS in the third paragraph.



The reason for going there was for example to induce a manual update of the TV data

You should not need to do this. The TiVo will do it about once every 24 hours provided you have it connected on your network. If however you DO need to do it you should be doing it via TiVoWEB as there is a manual data download option in there. Again, you should not need to be invoking a manual download under normal circumstances.


or do change the remote control setting

You only need to do this once every time you set up a new STB.


or to change the channel setup

You only need to do this once every time you move to a new city


(I have been owning this Tivo for a few weeks only, so there is still a need to play with the setup).

Unless you have changed location or changed STB actually there is no need to play with the setup once it has been done once, or maybe the need to do it twice if you happen to make a mistake.

[econzune]

Thanks Darren!

1. I understand that the setup is done only 'once', I simply had a need to remove a channel or two after my initial setup (e.g. I had two "Ten", two "Seven", etc.). When I tried to make those changes I could not get into the menu.

2. Thanks for the link that I will tackle after work. ;)

3. Thanks for letting me know that TV guide call is done automatically. I will monitor that. My Tivo is connected to a network but i had the feeling it did not update. I hope that is not the case. :(

4. I did access Tivoweb once. Then, a week later, I tried again after having setup the movie extraction stuff. I could not get on my Tivo by typing http://192.168.1.xxx (where xxx is the actual address of my Tivo). Did I do something wrong? :confused:

Thanks again! It feels like I could spend the rest of my life hacking a Tivo. :)

[Darren King]

1. I understand that the setup is done only 'once', I simply had a need to remove a channel or two after my initial setup (e.g. I had two "Ten", two "Seven", etc.). When I tried to make those changes I could not get into the menu.

You can add or delete channels from a menu called "channels you receive" which is NOT in the menu that you cannot access (I forget exactly where it is and not near a TiVo at present, sorry). You do not need to redo guided setup for this.


3. Thanks for letting me know that TV guide call is done automatically. I will monitor that. My Tivo is connected to a network but i had the feeling it did not update. I hope that is not the case. :(

It will. Sometimes the duration between updates is as long as 48 hours. But if you can do a Guided Setup call then the daily guide data call should work without issues too. Again, you can check that via TiVoWEB under the "phone" tab. This leads me to......


4. I did access Tivoweb once. Then, a week later, I tried again after having setup the movie extraction stuff. I could not get on my Tivo by typing http://192.168.1.xxx (where xxx is the actual address of my Tivo). Did I do something wrong?

So long as you are using the correct IP address it may be something known as a "crashcount" issue. This has been covered many times and one of the relevant forum threads is here: http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=1346

Read post #8 in that thread (my second reply)

[petestrash]

The crashcount issue should be fixed on new installs, as long as people follow the instructions and run the update command once they have installed the image.

Peter