First impressions of the Australian HD TiVo

[tosca]

This new TiVo is a very nice beast.

I recklessly purchased one from Harvey Norman on the Gold Coast on Thursday. I even had to wait while they opened up the shipping crate to get one out – it was the first one they had sold.

For anyone familiar with the OzTiVo there are no surprises, everything looks pretty much the same onscreen but with quite a few extra options.
The biggest improvement is in picture quality, as the output is in Component Video instead of the AVI on the old ones. The difference is remarkable even on an aged 42” low def Plasma.

The other major improvement is twin digital High Definition tuners fitted internally.

Setup is very simple, but will not start until you have registered your purchase by Serial number, along with your personal details, on the website. Otherwise, no dramas, although it missed NBN (Gold Coast CH8) on the first tuning run (it picked it up OK on a subsequent run).

There is much more information accessible onscreen than the old one, but one thing missing – there appears to be no network access to the machine by web browser or telnet. However, even their website is not fully functioning yet, and no doubt someone will report how to get into it in due course.

The new peanut remote is a bit longer than the old one, but has only 4 extra buttons with 3 extra functions.

There is little information supplied with the unit, and I already have a pair of OzTiVos in the same room. The new remote uses the same code set as the old one, so I went to the OzTiVo HowTo on controlling 2 or more TiVos in the same room. The two OzTiVos are on Control channels 1 & 2, so I set the new HD one to channel 4 and VOILA! Thank you very much RonDavis for your HowTo written way back in July 2003!

The final step was to integrate the command set into my Sony RM-VL900 remote, and the whole operation works seamlessly. Each TiVo is selected by a different macro, and the whole thing is so simple I didn’t even have to teach my better half how to drive it – just which macro was required to select it.

TiVo rocks, and this version is even better than the old one

[Darren King]

but one thing missing – there appears to be no network access to the machine by web browser or telnet. However, even their website is not fully functioning yet, and no doubt someone will report how to get into it in due course.

Telnet access on the old TiVo is only by way of a hack. Standard software releases "out of the box" for the Series 1 don't have it either.

Similarly TiVoWEB on the Series 1 is also a software hack. Although there have been reports of a possible official WEB based interface to the TiVoHD from TiVo I don't think it will be released any time soon, and like all other add-ons for the Australian TiVoHD it will come at an additional price.

[petestrash]

Just to add to Darrens comments, to enable any hack or access to the TiVo you will need to replace the Prom chip on the mainboard with a reprogrammed one. This makes any hacking more difficult for the average user.

Peter.

[Darren King]

Just to add to Peter's comments (no, this is not a tit-for-tat session ) the reason for needing to exchange the PROM chip (kind of like a computer BIOS) is because unlike the Series 1 that was more or less an open system, the Series 2 and higher TiVo's (Australia's TiVoHD is a Series 3) have much tighter security to prevent anything experimental and/or to circumvent revenue from extra features to be employed. The bottom line is that these security upgrades from that on a Series 1 TiVo will make most attempts at modifying the newer machines impossible.

[pjpete]

Just to confirm, is there guide data for Foxtel channels, or is it (as amazingly attacked in another thread) just a better vision quality, yet poorer product?

[Darren King]

TiVoHD cannot receive Foxtel nor does it have any way of connecting an external A/V input into it. It has two FTA digital tuners for FTA TV only. That is all.

[JohnScott]

Another happy customer with one or two minor gripes.

Love the picture quality on a Sony Bravia LCD connected via HDMI but have noticed lots of flickering when switching resolution modes when the Video Output Format is set to native, ie no conversion of the recorded content. For example, the menu display is 720p while most standard def programs are 576i. When you select something from the Now Playing list the screen flickers for a second or two while switching from 720p to 576i.

This could be my TV so no criticism is implied, plus using one of the other Video Output Formats, eg 1080i Fixed, gets rid of the flicker as Tivo converts everything to 1080i.

The remote is a bit of a pain - am used to the Series 1 Sony remote which has larger buttons for many functions, an easier to read typeface and a more logical layout, at least according to my taste.

[Hellerphant]

First time on this site....

I also got a TiVo HD last night from Harvey's and have to say so far so good, loving every bit of it.

As for the flickering issue, I also have a Sony Bravia (46" X Series) and when set to native it also flickers when switching between channels, even occasionally saying no signal for a brief moment. I'd say this is just switching the resolution like you said, but tonight I may try and set it to 1080i fixed and see how she looks...

In my opinion, I'd say the picture quality looks better than the inbuilt Bravia HD Tuner in the X series, which is really saying something coz I am super happy with my TV (Got it four weeks ago)

[pjpete]

Thanks Darren, I just wanted to really confirm that about Foxtel. It is as I thought, just a FTA system. Pity about the A/V inputs, but then there is the issue of Guide data as well, so really the unit is quite useless for me.

[Rocket]

Hi All,
This is my first post as I found the forum by searching for first impressions on the Aust. TiVo.
Like a lot of people here, I went into H/N the day after they got stock and bought one on the spot.
First impressions were pretty bad. Less than 24hrs after getting it home and loading all my wishlists, scheduling programs, etc. I was watching AFL last Saturday and the screen froze!
To cut a long story short, I couldn't get it going again, despite calling H/N and going through the power off/on routine (incidentally, is there any way to put the thing in stanby overnight or does it just stay on?).
Anyway, down to H/N on Monday and they checked out the faulty unit, swapped it over without any hassle which I was quite impressed with as I expected some sort of drama. They said they had sold 10-15 units already and mine was the first faulty one.
Now I have another unit home and it's lasted longer than 22hrs, I find it is good except that I can see it's going to take time to help it learn my preferences.
The other, not disabling, but damn annoying thing is that every now and then (seems to be when recording is going), when I try to look at something on the now playing list, there is no sound! Sometimes going through a menu driven restart will fix this, other times pressing the TiVo button and starting again will fix it (but you can't always do that when you have recordings taking place!).
As I say, it's not totally disabling, but it is damn annoying especially with all the testing they did here before launch and the fact that this technology has been in use in the U.S. for nearly ten years one would have thought they had all the bugs ironed out?
Other than that, I'm happy, look forward to what the system will have to offer down the track, I don't mind paying a few dollars for the upgrade later in the year, as long as they get the minor bugs out of the software.
Cheers.