Wellington Newbie

[bigmal]

Hi,

I'm a newbie who's dead keen to get into the whole tivo thing and have a couple of questions before I start.

1 - Does the nz tivo operate in a similar fashion to that in the US and UK? ie. can you make wishlists that record everything to do with your favourite actor or choose a tv show and tell the tivo to record it forever?

2 - Is there a difference between hardware manufacturers of tivo's? Is a sony tivo better than a thompsons or phillips?

3 - Is the idea of running tivo in NZ as cool as I'm hoping it'll be? My goal is to get a better alternative to MySky which I believe to be a ripoff.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. If anyone in Welly wants to demo their tivo I'd be happy to drive anywhere (locally) to see it.

[bigmal]

Ooops forget question 1 I founnd the answer to that and now I'm keener than ever.

4 - How stable is nz tivo when it's all up and running? Does it require regular care? I already get my girlfriend calling me when I'm out saying she can't get the tv/video to work etc and if the nz tivo is unstable the phone calls will escalate :-)

[zollymonsta]

Welcome!

1/ Yes, not really any different at all.

2/ UK tivos mean you can use the internal tuner as well as the a/v in jacks.
I believe they also have scart inputs/outputs so it's possible maybe to get a better quality picture. USA tivos are more affordable but have internal tuners that are NTSC. Whilst these can be replaced with PAL tuners, so far our NZ Nicam cannot be decoded. Most likely you will use a Sky box anyway, so this wont matter.

3/ No Comment :)




Hi,

I'm a newbie who's dead keen to get into the whole tivo thing and have a couple of questions before I start.


1 - Does the nz tivo operate in a similar fashion to that in the US and UK? ie. can you make wishlists that record everything to do with your favourite actor or choose a tv show and tell the tivo to record it forever?

2 - Is there a difference between hardware manufacturers of tivo's? Is a sony tivo better than a thompsons or phillips?

3 - Is the idea of running tivo in NZ as cool as I'm hoping it'll be? My goal is to get a better alternative to MySky which I believe to be a ripoff.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. If anyone in Welly wants to demo their tivo I'd be happy to drive anywhere (locally) to see it.

[zollymonsta]

Sometimes the TiVo will freeze.. but this can be fixed by rebooting it anyway.

I have both of mine set up via a cron task to reboot themselves every morning at 4am (when I'm fast asleep). I haven't experienced any lockups at all since I did this.




Ooops forget question 1 I founnd the answer to that and now I'm keener than ever.

4 - How stable is nz tivo when it's all up and running? Does it require regular care? I already get my girlfriend calling me when I'm out saying she can't get the tv/video to work etc and if the nz tivo is unstable the phone calls will escalate :-)

[dyrplq]

I'm in J'Ville. Email me if you want to come for a look.

Phil

[bigmal]

Right, after seeing dyrplq's tivo I'm hooked (thanks Phil).
I've ordered one from George along with a cachecard and am eagerly awaiting arrival.

One quick question, is it possible to limit what channels tivo records?
eg. If I make a wishlist to record all hurricanes rugby games can I tell tivo to only record sky sport 1 and 2 and not the rugby channel?

Cheers, Jeremy.

[thomson]

One quick question, is it possible to limit what channels tivo records?

Wishlists are not "channel aware" so what you want to do is not possible when using a these to record a particular show (unless you wish to get your hands dirty writing a little code).

Depending on how good the guide data is you should be able to use a Season Pass to do what you wish. Season Passes are channel aware so you choose which channels to record a particular show.

Of course you could just record everything and then delete what you are not interested in :)

[bigmal]

Wahoo! My Tivo arrived today and I'm very amped!!!

Question: Does anyone know where I can source a PAL tuner mod?

Any help is appreciated.

[petestrash]

I'm not aware of anyone in NZ doing the installs.

Darren King is guy in Australia if you either want the parts or for him to actually do the install.

His website is http://www.members.westnet.com.au/kingey1971/tivo/index.htm

Peter.

[dozley]

I'm in Wellington and appear to have found an electronics guy in Lower Hutt who can do the PAL install. I dropped my Tivo off today, so I'll report back in the next couple of days as to his success...

[petestrash]

That's good news, if your happy with their work post the details back here for others who may be interested.

Peter.

[bigmal]

Petestrash, according to Darrens website he no longer does PAL mods.

Dozely, I'm very keen to find out how you get on, fingers crossed.

Cheers.

[petestrash]

I knew Darren was running short of tuners, but didn't know he was totally out :o

Peter.

[dozley]

Bigmal.

I'm back :-)

Sorry for the delay.

Right, I purchased 2x RF tuners (PAL) from Darren King and got him to send them over to me. These may have been the last ones he had (he certainly was nearing the end of his supplies). These cost AUS$30 each + AUS$20 for shipping (approx NZD$100 total).
I then took my two Tivo's to:
GP Electronics
Contact: Pros
Phone: 04-939 4473
Cnr Dudley St & Andrews Ave, Lower Hutt
(thanks to Steve Hepster for the lead)
along with the excellent instructions (thanks largely to Darren King) and got Pros (an electronics guys) to install the PAL tuners (this cost NZD$125). I cocked up slightly here in that I misread the instructions (my fault) and I didn't get Pros to perform the "mono output" which is a wire from the PAL tuner to 2x capaciters attached to a chip on the main board.
So...back to the shop with the Tivo's :-(
Anyway, what with public holidays, and Pros having initial difficulties sourcing the capaciters (he got the right ones in the end) it's taken until today for me to get the Tivo's back (and another NZD$50). For installing the PAL mod's with mono sound output it cost NZD$275. About the same as shipping it to Darren and getting him to perform the work I would guess. Anyway, it's a little on the expensive side all up, so you may want to look at other options (eg Saturn or Sky decoder), but for me it was worth it (one of the Tivo's is in the bedroom and so I HAD to have the PAL mod done. The other Tivo was done because it was there!

Anyway, hope this helps you on your endeavours - if you do decide to get it done I would definitely recommend Pros (GP Electronics) as we was good to deal with and the MOD was done successfully! Yay...

Oh well, back to setting up my season passes...

Dorian

[dyrplq]

Great to hear it worked out for you Dorian. Now get ready for the 'cant live without tivo' world! :)

Phil

[petestrash]

That's a lot of money, don't forget that you can easily use a 2nd hand VCR to act as a tuner, even one where the entire mechanics are faulty. If you haven't got a spare, you can usually buy them from vcr repair stores for less than $20, sometimes even free.

The only downside is the channel changes are slower, but if use your TiVo properly you shouldn't be surfing live TV anyway :D.

Peter.

[SeanOffShotgun]

I have 2 VCR's on TradeMe that don't record or play very well.

If any forum person wants them they can have them for free (just a matter of getting them).

One is mono the other NICAM stereo.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=56390282

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=56390432

[Darren King]

For installing the PAL mod's with mono sound output it cost NZD$275.

Bloody hell :eek:

Hobotech www.hobotech.com still has a quantity of fully modded (PAL tuner & 2nd A/V) with hard disks and network cards available. Probably cheaper to buy a fully modded unit from him if you want one with a PAL tuner fitted.


I knew Darren was running short of tuners, but didn't know he was totally out

Apart from the dozen or so I am reserving as emergency repairs that is it for me. Given the cost of digital STB (and the push for people to go digital) it has slowed down my sales to a crawl and I doubt I would recoup the investment of another minimum buy batch of 120 pieces.

[dozley]

SeanOffShotgun,
I've PM'ed you regarding the Nicam VCR.

The $275 for the PAL modding of the 2x Tivos was necessary as my existing VCR is a Loewe and I couldn't get the IR codes to work, no matter how hard I tried. Aesthetics were also important to me, and at least now with the Tivo in the bedroom blends in nicely without having (yet) another electronic device (another VCR) in the room.

Dorian

[bigmal]

Dozely,

Thanks for the update on the PAL tuner. It does seem a tad expensive but I agree aesthetics is important to me too. VCR's are ugly :-)

Cheers, Jeremy.

[petestrash]

I agree aesthetics is important to me too. VCR's are ugly :-)

Don't forget if using an IR blaster cable to control the VCR, it can be over a metre away from the TiVo and does not need to be in anyone's sight.

Most of My STB's are hidden away inside cabinets and cannot be seen.

Peter.

[Islander]

A major advantage of a Pal tuner mod is that if there is a break in the mains an exetrnal tuning device may not necessarily power up resulting in no recording until noticed.
This especially applies to using a VCR as a tuner as I have found out on several occaisions.

[petestrash]

I'm not arguing that having an internal tuner is preferable to an external device, the main benefit being never missing a channel chanel change.

I was mainly concerned that the cost of conversion in NZ appears to be quite steep, added to the fact there are no more tuners for sale in small qty's, you will need to look at other options.

The power on state after a blackout is a known issue and is one of the things we consider here when selecting Digital STB's for use with TiVo. The STB must return to the on state and tuned to the same channel as before the blackout.

There is one added benefit using a VCR with a US TiVo, you have the option of using a nicam stereo VCR. This is the only current option for stereo FTA in NZ.

Peter.

[Darren King]

Petestrash, according to Darrens website he no longer does PAL mods.

This is no longer the case. After a long think about things I am pleased to announce it is almost business as usual. I say "almost" because it is with the stipulation (as stated on my website) that the work is done when I can do it. I will no longer be backed into a corner doing mods when my job and family now dictate what I do with my spare time. I have ordered and taken delivery of a fresh batch of tuners and stereo chips and I have a hot soldering iron ready to go.