TIVO in Canada with Starchoice?

[JerryinTO]

Hey, I am considering purchasing TIVO in Canada in order to use with STARCHOICE satelitte. Does anybody here have experience with this?

By the way, I have a hdd recorder that I was using with cable. I would have leave that recorder on channel 3. From what I have seen, the TIVO model would be superior in mnay regards with STARCHOICE.

Thanks


JerryinTO (that's Toronto)

[ZBB]

We've been using one of our TiVos with StarChoice since last Nov, about a month after TiVo added support for Canadian listings. We're in the US though -- StarChoice just thinks we live at our in-laws in BC.

It works great... We used it for 3-4 months with an older DSR315 tuner box with absolutely no issues. We got DSR505 HD box in Feb, and have been using it since then. For the HD channels, it records them in SD letterbox format -- while its obviously not HD, the picture quality is very good, even when we zoom in the aspect ratio to take advantage of the widescreen TV.

We've had a couple minor issues with the 505 though:
1) 505 software instability issues -- occasionally need to reboot the 505 (1-2 times a month).
2) Channel changing instructions from the TiVo don't always work for us -- about 5% of the time, the Tivo ends up recording the wrong channel. We've fiddled with the location of the IR blasters, fiddled with the IR codes on the TiVo and its a little better than at first, but we still miss the occasional show. It really seems to happen frequently (30% of the time) on 2 or 3 channels that have shows my wife likes, maybe once a month for something I watch).
3) For some reason, we always get a message after the TiVo connects notifying us of channel lineup changes, even though there is no change. TiVo support claimed it was due to StarChoice, but the Canadian Home Forum users don't report this issue -- must be a minor bug with our TiVo (and hasn't gone away with software updates).

[Rombaldi]

We got DSR505 HD box in Feb, and have been using it since then. For the HD channels, it records them in SD letterbox format -- while its obviously not HD, the picture quality is very good, even when we zoom in the aspect ratio to take advantage of the widescreen TV.

Dosen't the 505 have an option to output 'squeezed' fullscreen for SD video for the HD stations? (ie. anamorphic ready) so if you tell the TV to 'stretch' it should be proper widescreen?

(getting ready to get a 505 myself)

[classicsat]

I am using a Series 2 with a Starchoice Motorola DSR315, and get nearly 100% channel changes. I get no notices of channel lineup changes, unless one really happens. I expect one within the week for the two new channels added today.

[jarnerdav]

Since I won't be using the receiver on a High Def set, is there any advantage to getting the 505? In other words, are there channels in HD that aren't also available in SD? What about the US network HD channels, are they the same feeds as the SD channels or are they from different cities than the SD. Finally, does Starchoice get the NY network feeds at all. I had them on DISH until recently and really miss them not that they are not available.

[brucebarney99]

ZBB and Clasicsat - it sounds like both of you are using Tivo with Starchoice.....I'm having the same problem that ZBB described where Tivo works great on my old DSR315 but when I go to the DSR505, channel changing goes crazy. I've played with IR cables, changed Tivo settings for the Motorola box several times (currently using 10035B on DSR315) and made sure that my remote address is 0000.....still no luck with DSR505....it's almost like it tries to enter every number in the channel string twice (e.g. 331155 for 315)....does anybody have any suggestions or has anyone experienced similar issues?

Thanks.

BB iin SD

[Andrel]

I have had similar issues since I got the DSR 505 in Dec 05. Read somewhere (and I think it really makes sense) that the double digit is caused by the DSR 505 CPU slowing down after a while then freezing. I reconnected my Tivo on my DSR 305 as I was getting frustrated about missing shows then having to reset the 505 at least once a day in may-june 2006 timeframe.

As an experiment, Reset the DRS 505 by holding the Power switch for at least 5 seconds. Wait for the reset cycle. Go to the Tivo settings => Channels=>channel changing and follow the instruction. You should be able to get consistent channel change with very minimal channel error (maybe 1 in 20). After a couple of hours/days, the channel double digit errors should occur more often. The errors should be more when you are entering 0, 5 and 6 (as much as I can remember). Use your tivo channel numbers to change like to channel 505, 550, 560, etc.... You should get pretty consistent error (over 90% of the time). reset your DSR 505 and you should get very good channel change.

The slowdown of the DRS 505 is causing every thing to slow down including the clock display and the IR signal response. The problem is the Tivo still sends the signal at the right speed.


The DSR 305 has never given me an incorrect channel change in 3 years. I consider Tivo a better use of my viewing/pleasure time than High Def. That's why the DSR 505 is NOT connected to my Tivo.

Hope this help

Andre

[brucebarney99]

Thanks Andre......I tend to agree with your assessment.....for now I'm keeping Tivo mated with my DSR315......but on the secondary TV.....can't pass up HNC on the big screen in HD just yet :-)