Welcome to Canada, My New TiVo!
posted at 5:23 pm
on Oct. 2, 2005
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One Year in Vancouver
My TiVo arrived today. I ordered it as soon as I heard you could get TiVo service in Canada.
Nice box, nice packing, nothing amazing but still rather well organized. The manual’s thick and hardly inspiring, and full of marketing-speak.
I have encountered two problems so far: 1) The software on the box, 5.3, doesn’t deal with Canada. So you have to set it up with a U.S. zip code (82752 82327 is what it currently thinks), so that you can connect and download the update to 7.2.
Problem 2)—not really a problem, but I’m off to buy a USB to Ethernet, or USB to wireless (Wifi) adapter. Without that, you can get program data via phone, but you can’t make your TiVo play with your other home computers, nor will you be able to tell it what to download via the TiVo Web site.
More later—the software download’s taking about an hour via the phone line (I guess that’s another reason to get the USB/Ethernet adapter). Darren, you can come try it if you’d like.
Update: It’s later, and I’ve got lots more. First of all, rereading above, I don’t sound too enthusiastic. Well, I was tired today, and also I’ve had a TiVo before, so I’m not as excited as I was when I got my first one (which was my gift to myself after a particularly good week in 2001).
So, the total set up time, from opening the box to getting it running, was several hours, during which time I watched some TV, made some dinner, and blogged. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. What slowed it down was that I had to call in multiple times to set up, then re-set up, the TiVo.
Darren asked in the comments about the zip code thing I mentioned above. I had to tell it a zip code so that I could get past the startup. Zip code 82327 is in Wyoming, and therefore it has to download as little program data as possible. Once it’s downloaded the program data, it’ll then download the software update. That took about 40 minutes on the phone. Now, it’ll accept postal codes.
Once it was up to date, I fell in love with it all over again. First of all, I used the built-in TV Guide, and discovered The Simpsons was on a channel that I didn’t know it was on at 7:00. Then, I was disappointed that I was going to have to make dinner and would miss part of it, when I remembered that I could pause live TV.
We paused TV until dinner was ready, then sat down to watch the show—after rating it a hearty three “Thumbs Up” so that it would suggest other shows we might like. A commercial came on, and I actually watched the first one, until I remembered that we could zoom through them in no time.
Then, I told it to tape Law and Order: CI for tomorrow, so I could come write this blog entry. Setting that up took about 20 seconds—far less time than setting a DVD to burn it would take.
Later, I came out to find Susie watching a documentary. I got engrossed, so she backed it up so I could see the beginning of the section I’d missed. When my Mom called, Susie paused it while I took the call.
Darren, I have to admit, I can understand your position a little better now, honestly. I was a TiVo evangelist when I had one before, and in the past year, I’d forgotten how good it makes things. You really don’t understand it until you use it. The remote control is pleasing to hold, the sound effects are pleasant and perky. The interface is jolly.
All-in-all, Susie and I are super-pleased to have TiVo back with us.
Keywords: tivo pvr setup canada
Previous entry:
Friday Night in Vancouver
Next entry:
One Year in Vancouver
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