Newbie Questions

**beastman** · 30-11-2006, 11:00 PM

I am in the UK but am am visting family in Napier in 3 weeks and want to take a UK TIVO with me (in my suitcase - that might be fun) to give to them to use IN NZ. I have 2 UK tivos and have done basic hacking (upgrading drives & cachecards etc) and so I am prepared to try and hack a machine so it will be NZ friendly. My kiwi friends stayed with me last year and needless to say loved my tivos so it would be really cool to unwrap a nice hacked tivo for them.
I have aquired a cheap UK tivo with a turbonet card so I am hoping it should be fairly easy to sort out.
Can someone confirm this what I need to do:

1. download the install the thompson beta image found here:
http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=1167
2.follow this documentation:
http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=959

Does anyone have any other pointers that I must do?
Also the tivo I have does not have a subscription on it - I take it thats OK?

Many thanks

**catdog** · 01-12-2006, 06:24 AM

I suggest you also read through this thread as it has a few details for UK tivo in NZ:
http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=1160

**NZMarke** · 01-12-2006, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by beastman

I am in the UK but am am visting family in Napier in 3 weeks and want to take a UK TIVO with me (in my suitcase - that might be fun) to give to them to use IN NZ. I have 2 UK tivos and have done basic hacking (upgrading drives & cachecards etc) and so I am prepared to try and hack a machine so it will be NZ friendly. My kiwi friends stayed with me last year and needless to say loved my tivos so it would be really cool to unwrap a nice hacked tivo for them.
I have aquired a cheap UK tivo with a turbonet card so I am hoping it should be fairly easy to sort out.
Can someone confirm this what I need to do:

1. download the install the thompson beta image found here:
http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=1167
2.follow this documentation:
http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=959

Does anyone have any other pointers that I must do?
Also the tivo I have does not have a subscription on it - I take it thats OK?

Many thanks

One of the things to consider is what TV connection they currently have.

If you're using a UK TiVo then it will already support PAL .. so they can use the inbuilt tuner to receive Free-To-Air channels.

They may also have (or want to get) satellite TV ... which will mean Sky (www.skytv.co.nz). There are two different Sky options (Sky UHF or Sky Digital). I don't personally have any experience with getting Sky UHF and TiVo interoperating (anyone else comment?). I have Sky Digital (which requires a satellite dish on the roof).

With the Sky Digital service there are a couple (or more??) different decoder boxes. The one I have - a PACE decoder - works fine with TiVo. But I have heard of problems getting the Motorola model working (IR codes for channel changing via the TiVo are problematic - although someone may have solved this by now??).

Something to bear in mind anyway ...

Cheers (and nice present!!)

Mark

**NZMarke** · 01-12-2006, 12:45 PM

Oh ... and should have said that "Yes - not having a subscription is fine".

The (EPG) program data is supplied through the kind services of people from this forum (thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!). There is no TiVo subscription in this part of the world anyway ..

Mark

**beastman** · 01-12-2006, 08:52 PM

thanks for your suggestions guys but I think I am biting off more than I can chew.
It would have been great to give a tivo my kiwi friends on christmas day but I think thats unrealistic.......looking at that thread is looks like a real challenge to set it up, especially doing it from back here in the UK.
Would it be viable for me to ask for an image from someone from a working NZ thompson tivo?
I guess if someone has a working setup that would work well in Napier (seems most of you guys are in Auckland) I could copy that across.
Better still, I am actually in Auckland for a couple of days before I get down to Napier and if someone could image it for me and check it works I would obviously pay them and be really greatful. I would be the daddy if I could get this done for them.

**TimesOwn** · 02-12-2006, 09:28 PM

I've made a list of the changes needed to make to the NZ Thomson beta image to make it work for Wellington, and it is probably going Ok now. The only issue I see is what region is napier? Other wise should be able to list what you need do to finish the beta off. Can anyone clarify?

**beastman** · 06-12-2006, 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by TimesOwn

I've made a list of the changes needed to make to the NZ Thomson beta image to make it work for Wellington, and it is probably going Ok now. The only issue I see is what region is napier? Other wise should be able to list what you need do to finish the beta off. Can anyone clarify?

thanks TimesOwn. I wonder if an Auckland setup would work fine?

**DJC** · 06-12-2006, 12:06 PM

We can add an FTA setup for Napier, or wherever else is required. What we need is a list of the channels and their corresponding frequencies for the local area.

Simply post a request into this forum, one of us will pick it up.

**beastman** · 06-12-2006, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by DJC

We can add an FTA setup for Napier, or wherever else is required. What we need is a list of the channels and their corresponding frequencies for the local area.

Simply post a request into this forum, one of us will pick it up.

Thanks DJC - I'm note sure what you mean. I know my kiwi family have sky but I don't know what the channels and their corresponding frequencies for their area are.

**catdog** · 07-12-2006, 06:33 AM

For the FTA channels you might be able to guess which transmitter they are near (and therefore the corresponding frequencies) from this site:
http://www.lincrad.co.nz/transmitters.htm

For sky digital the channel numbers are the same all over NZ, so you only need to figure out which brand/model of set top box they are using so you can choose the correct codes for the IR blaster.