Is that confirmed?Quote:
Originally Posted by gadgetman
A couple of days after mine was delivered, a mate said poweron told him they didn't sell Tivos outside the US anymore?
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Is that confirmed?Quote:
Originally Posted by gadgetman
A couple of days after mine was delivered, a mate said poweron told him they didn't sell Tivos outside the US anymore?
Actually... I was looking at starting on a US model and that pretty much matches the cost. A US TiVo will cost ~US$180 (90+90pp!), Cached/Network card is US$99, 80GB harddrive about NZ$150 and PAL tuner and Stereo modification about $100 local (probably US$160 to get done in Aus with postage). All that comes to $650-800.Quote:
Originally Posted by zollymonsta
If anyone knows of a (much) cheaper way then please let us know. I know I have a people who have been asking me. Many do want the tuner modification, and if you are savy with a soldering iron, then this could be done for NZ$70... but I have no idea what the stereo modifications is... or even if it could be got working over here (we use Nicam).
Sounds about right, see those $USD 90 Tivos are not quite bargain they appear at first glance.Quote:
Originally Posted by thomson
If you have a friend in the UK then you might be able to source a UK model cheap enough if you hang out at Ebay long enough. Still unless you have someone who can bring it as luggage with them when they come and visit you p+p will set you back about the same as the US p+p does.Quote:
Originally Posted by thomson
re: local tuner mod, in theory any decent VCR/TV etc repair shop should be able to unsolder the existing tuner and solder in the Samsung replacement model so if you source the parts from AUS [one guy sells them I know of], then you can save the p+p on your Tivo to Aus and back.
The NICAM option is simple, as the (replacement) Samsung Tuner is a direct "pin compatible" replacement for the US tuner, only it does PAL B/G (NZ TV standard) and Nicam/"Dodgy-Aus-Stereo" as well, so you get both in the one thing.
Only problem is I don't think there is a PAL tuner (installable software) module file available for NZ channels, only for Aus channels and they are different enough to make the Aus one that they use in Aus not work here out of the box.
So someone over here would have to merge the UK palmod channel table into the Aus PAL mod file [may have been done for all I know but I don't think so]. This requires someone who knows C and has the Cross-compiler working. Its not a big job, about 2 hours if you know what you're doing including testing, but you'd need a Samsung Tuner mod'ed Tivo to test it.
Then of course, you'd need another source added to your headend/Setup for your local Free-to-air channels - for which the channel numbers in this source will be completely different for everyone as they depend on where you live in the country and possibly even in which direction your TV aerial points.
Simplest option is to use your Sky Decoder or a VCR on AV-in as the Tuner and live with that.
After all if you're mates want the "simple solution", then they won't like the (lack of) guide data either - may be they are not ready for a Tivo yet?
You can buy hard-disk DVR (i.e. Tivo-like) devices here - Thomson have one for sale - it was about $1600 a year back and only had 40GB disk, but it was available. It worked just like a VCR (8 programs over 1 month etc).
Still that may be all some folks need.
Actually shipping from the UK is even worse... you are looking at GBP70 to ship a Thomson unit from the UK. With the prices of the units over there you are looking at around the NZ$700 mark to land a UK unit here.Quote:
Originally Posted by number6
This is not as big a job as it sounds... I have just had a look at the palmod code from the AUS site, and the "New Zealand" setting would have definitely only worked for a Philips Tuner. Is a very simple modification to get it going for a Samsung tuner. I have the cross-compiler going for the UK-2.5.5 kernel and will have a look next week at getting a US-3.0 version up and running at which point I will post a NZ Philips/Samsung version of palmod. Will let the AUS people know so that the changes will make their way into the new releases. I have posted some (untested) code here: PAL Tuner in NZQuote:
Originally Posted by number6
If anyone is interested, the following is an example of my UK Tuner kernel module, tuned and made very lean for WGTN viewers :) I like to keep kernel modules small and to the point... Essentially it is a cut down version of the existing ukchan module, but directly maps the channel frequencies with their stations numbers (TV1-3,C4&Prime).
Headend slices are just as easy to modify and load (only need to be done once), and the nztivo.slice's load without issues - although I have a stripper program that reduces the slice information so that it only contains the channels that I am interested in. This really speeds up the loading of slices.Code:static int getFreq_x(int chan, int u1, u32 *p1, u32 *p2)
{
u32 f = 0;
u32 freq = 0;
static struct {
int chan;
u32 freq;
} chans[] = {
{ 0, 0 },
{ 1, 45250 }, /* freq: 1 - TV1*/
{ 2, 182250 }, /* freq: 5 - TV2*/
{ 3, 224250 }, /* freq: 11 - TV3*/
{ 4, 55250 }, /* freq: 2 - C4*/
{ 5, 783250 }, /* freq: 60 - Prime*/
{ 0, 0 }
};
if (chan > 0 && chan < 6) {
freq = chans[chan].freq;
f = (freq-471250)*1000 + 510150000;
}
*p1 = f;
if (freq > 385250) {
*p2 = 2;
} else if (freq > 137250) {
*p2 = 1;
} else {
*p2 = 0;
}
/* setup NZ (NICAM) ONLY sound - see page 22 of msp34x0g_4pd.pdf */
iicw4(0x88, 0x10, 0x00200008); /* B/G NICAM Stereo (only) */
return 0;
}
Well not so expensive if you already have a spare hard drive kicking around.Quote:
Originally Posted by thomson
I got a series 1 Phillips Tivo from George at eksys with network card and serial cable. Worked out to around $401 on the Visa. No point getting the tuner mod done if you have Sky Digital or Saturn as you can just use the A/V in jacks.
If you are wanting to get the tuner mod done, eventually there will probably someone game enough in NZ to do it.
I am in the middle of this also.... I have done the tivo pal mod with an ALPs tuner (same as samsung ) and nicam chip as supplied by DK in Aus.
I did the mod myself so could help out anyone who wanted to do it locally...
But- I am stuck on the local channels problems - so thanks for the comments above, they are starting to shed some light on it. I was having probs so installed 99 FTA channels and can only get a picture on 2 of these and they are not the UHF channels for my region (chch). - I assume that this just where the channels coincide with Aus frequencies?
In the above code are the numbers 45250,182250 etc the local channel frequencies in Hz?
{ 1, 45250 }, /* freq: 1 - TV1*/
{ 2, 182250 }, /* freq: 5 - TV2*/
I'm not upto speed with coding/compiling a chch version so will need to ask for some help here.
Nice to know some others are working on the same path! :cool:
You will have a problem with the AUS Palmod version as it won't work out of the box here due to channel frequency allocation differences.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant
[Technically - AUS use 7MHz channel allocation in the UHF bands, we use 8Mhz and a different starting "frequency" so that the AUS and NZ channels don't intersect except at a few places and few of those have a TV channel on them]
The table in the code snippet above has been reduced from the full set of channels so that the author could place TV1 for his location on button 1 on his remote, the same for TV2 so its on button 2 on his remote etc, which is only of use to him or someone else who lives in the same bit of Wellington as him [everyone with a Tivo lives in Wellington don't they - Yeah, Right].
You need to obtain the (compiled) module from the source code mentioned above in This link for the zip file mentioned above. Unfortunately you need a cross-compiler to build the module from this code, or you need to ask someone with the cross-compiler to compile it for you.
The you install it on your Tivo and have it loaded **instead** of the existing PALMOD.o file
[and then reboot your Tivo].
Then you need to test it with each your 99 free-to-air channels to obtain the correct "channel numbers" for the TV Station you can pick up.
Then you either: Rename the channels that work into the proper names and numbers e.g. FTQ Channel 03 becomes "TV1" etc (I think TV! in CHC is on VHF channel 3) or delete them and then re-add them with the correct info, channel number etc.
The others (free to air channels) you can leave then in your Tivo but set them up as channels I don't get (do that from Channels I watch in Guide screen) for now so that they don't appear when you go channel up/down etc on the remote.
NotE: If your TV1 is on "VHF channel 3", then to go to TV 1 on FTA you need to enter 03 (or just 3 enter) on the Remote.
On my system TV1 is on VHF channel 2, TV2 is on VHF channel 4 and TV3 is on VHF channel 7, so I enter 02 on the remote to directly access TV1, 04 for TV2 and 07 for TV3.
When I record a program, the Tivo knows that channel its on so it selects the highest quality source available (Sky decoder if you have it, FTA otherwise).
Grant, firstly you can find the NZ-aware binaries (palmod.o and palmod_config) here . You should be able to replace the palmod.o module in the /lib/modules directory and use the new palmod_config to select "NZ Samsung/ALPS".Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant
Did you get a nicam chip from DK? I have had a look at his stereo modification instructions and they do not look like they will work with Nicam. He is using a 5.74MHz ceramic filter... at the very least this will need to be changed to a 5.85MHz? My UK Tivo works fine with Nicam so there may be a simpler solution... as that just uses an i2c instruction to select Nicam decoding.
I have a feeling that both a 5.85MHz filter AND an i2c instruction to get the sound processor to decode Nicam would be required. DK or one of the other modification masters may be able to shed some light.
Hi Thomson, I haven't yet had enough good reception to know if the nicam is working - I suspect not, but I up till now I've been blaming the channel issue.
For me - if I can get the software working then the hardware is a whole bunch easier ;)
I'll take a look with the advice above and see where I get to! - cheers!
The response I recevied from DK (who was unaware of the different standards in NZ and wishes for standards!) mentions that the TDA9821 chip is an analogue device and is will not work with NICAM
UPDATE: It seems that the MSP3430G chip will need to be replaced with a MSP3450G chip... and this is an 80pin surface mount chip - not for the faint hearted. See this post for more information.