[Dajad]

FYI... no amount of spoofing will make Unbox work in Canada. The details are here.

They do Geo-IP sniffing or something to block such orders. Amazon will happily take your money (and, near as I can tell, not refund it) but you won't get your TV show or movie!

As with Microsoft (360), Apple (iTunes/AppleTV) and most other pay per use video providers on the Internet, TiVo and Amazon still treats us as second class citizens.

And they wonder why users flock to Bittorent in droves!

...Dale

P.S. Yes, I know this is all due to licensing restrictions. I wish one of these companies (and especially TiVo) would step up and obtain the Canadian distribution rights with these video offerings. I REALLY want to pay them money, month after month to access TV shows/movies online. I REALLY do.

I suspect TiVo won't be to be first out of the box (pun intended). They'll sell PVRs in Korea, Australia, England and now even China, but they won't sell or support them directly to Canadians.

P.P.S. TiVo please work with Amazon so as NOT to accept orders from Canadians (and charge our credit cards) if your system isn't going to fulfill the order. There should also be a way that we can get a refund for non-delivered content.

Update: ON July 10, Microsoft announced at E3 that they'll be making their iVOD to the 360 service available to Canadians and Europeans by the end of the year. Whupp, whupp, Hooray!!!

 

[ZeoTiVo]

I know you really wanted this for a long time and am sorry to hear you can not make use of it.

however TiVo does not do any licesning and is way too small a company to even think about getting in that game. The are completely dependant on other companies (like UNBOX) getting the license. Your plea is misplaced with TiVo.

now the part about TiVo keeping Canadians from using the service and loosing their money, that is well placed.

 

[btwyx]

FYI... no amount of spoofing will make Unbox work in Canada. The details are here.

The one thing you didn't spoof was the IP address.

 

[kharder]

The one thing you didn't spoof was the IP address.

How easily can this be done.

 

[captain_video]

You should be grateful. I bought one of their $0.99 specials to check it out and it turned out to be the worst investment I ever made. I deleted the movie after forcing myself to watch a grainy, washed out image before I couldn't take it any more. The PQ was absolutely horrible on my 60" HDTV. If you have a SA Tivo and a small screen then I expect it might be tolerable but if you have anything larger than 32 inches I wouldn't waste my money.

 

[theGUYman]

I wonder if tivo is deferring units to Canada due to language requirements, that is English and French menu interface??

 

[davezatz]

It could be the billing address for the TiVo service, it could also be IP-based. I think you're giving up too easily though. Try changing your address with TiVo and figure out how to spoof your IP or route traffic through my place. I do agree with captain_video that quality on an HDTV leaves something to be desired. Good thing Microsoft is bringing your Xbox 360 HD love later this year.

 

[Dajad]

theGUYman - no, its all about licensed rights - period. Unfortunately due to the history of movie distribution in North America, typically the people with movie distribution rights in Canada are usually different from those with the U.S. distribution rights. This goes back to the dawn of the motion picture industry. As for TV shows, its even more complicated given the arcane broadcast regulations that exist in Canada to protect Canadian content. U.S. networks cannot legally setup network affiliates in Canada. So they license the exclusive TV rights to their shows to Canadian networks.

So, until that changes, Amazon/TiVo will need to negotiate the eDistribution rights with the relevant licensees in Canada. Obviously its doable. It's just another layer of lawyering that TiVo/Microsoft/Sony/Apple have to go through. All of the above have Canadian presence EXCEPT TiVo so I'm guessing we are more likely to get content to our settops from the others before TiVo which has chosen to serve Canada as an afterthought rather than a dedicated market (at least so far). So, I'm not too confident we'll see Unbox in Canada any time soon.

All that said, I'm changing my thinking as I type this. Amazon has had a unique Canadian presence for years, so perhaps they will step up sooner than later.

Capatain I'd be fine with chunky grainy video. I understand that there will be growing pains. I've been advocating on this board for TiVo to bring out this kind of service since I first joined back in 1999. So, at this point I'll take anything. I want to watch it grow and mature. There is no keener prospective user for this service than me (as many on this board can attest). But, alas, I'll have to wait some more (unless I move back stateside - which is always a possibility).

Dave, I don't know how I could possibly spoof an IP address for TiVo. I know how I can spoof an IP addresss for my web browser using third party services, to surf through, but I have no idea if this is possible, or how, with the TiVo. As for using a different physical address with TiVo ... I now unfortunately have to pay them my monthly $6.95 for my new S2 because TiVo won't sell me a lifetime service. So, they need a credit card that is registered to someone at the same address. While I still have my U.S. credit cards, they all are registered at my Toronto address now. It's really NOT worth the pain to me anyway. I'll wait until the 360 service coming out later this year. Given that they have some 2000 titles available on that service, and counting, with many in HD, that seems like it will be the better service anyway - especially since the S3 (needed to watch HD content) is gimped software/feature-wise compared to the S2.

But, I do look forward to TiVo catching up some day.

 

[Dajad]

Oh, and while I'm on my rants, TiVo - if you aren't going to let us Canadians use this service - STOP sending out the Amazon Unbox promotional e-mails to your Canadian subscribers!!!!!

These just make us even more frustrated! It's like getting Victoria Secret catalogs. Entertaining, but I want the real thing!

Doh!

...Dale

 

[classicsat]

I wonder if tivo is deferring units to Canada due to language requirements, that is English and French menu interface??

I think that would be a small part of it. A lot of it may be business requirements for openly selling such a product in Canada.

 

[psyton]

The one thing you didn't spoof was the IP address.

Has anyone tried a proxy located in the US?

 

[Dajad]

How could you do that? There is no way to direct the TiVo to use a proxy?

 

[MickeS]

You should be grateful. I bought one of their $0.99 specials to check it out and it turned out to be the worst investment I ever made. I deleted the movie after forcing myself to watch a grainy, washed out image before I couldn't take it any more. The PQ was absolutely horrible on my 60" HDTV. If you have a SA Tivo and a small screen then I expect it might be tolerable but if you have anything larger than 32 inches I wouldn't waste my money.

Really? I had no idea you felt this way.

 

[davezatz]

How could you do that? There is no way to direct the TiVo to use a proxy?

You'd probably do it from your router? Though I don't know if the typical home router would do it and I wonder if only HTTP traffic would go through. Wonder if any of the Linksys replacement firmware could help.

 

[nhaigh]

You should be grateful. I bought one of their $0.99 specials to check it out and it turned out to be the worst investment I ever made. I deleted the movie after forcing myself to watch a grainy, washed out image before I couldn't take it any more. The PQ was absolutely horrible on my 60" HDTV. If you have a SA Tivo and a small screen then I expect it might be tolerable but if you have anything larger than 32 inches I wouldn't waste my money.

Really?

On my 60" TV with Unboxed on my S3 the quality looks as good or better than any of the digital SD programming I get. It's not HD but perhaps this is a reflection of how good the S3 and the TV are upscaling the picture.

 

[TiVoStephen]

I posted in the thread Dale linked to. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Dale, I'll work with our marketing folks to stop sending e-mails about Unbox to Canadian users.

As for not charging Canadian users, we'll see what we can do, but that's why we warn Canadian users in the FAQ not to use the service. Remember that all transactions go through Amazon.com.

 

[ADent]

A VPN would work.

There are services to protect you while hot spot surfing that provide VPN (witopia, secure-tunnel, etc).

Not sure how you funnel all the network traffic thru the VPN (something like setup a PC with VPN, turn on internet sharing and funnel TiVo thru the PC?)

 

[Dajad]

I posted in the thread Dale linked to. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Dale, I'll work with our marketing folks to stop sending e-mails about Unbox to Canadian users.

As for not charging Canadian users, we'll see what we can do, but that's why we warn Canadian users in the FAQ not to use the service. Remember that all transactions go through Amazon.com.

Thanks Stephen. I knew going in I was breaking the rules. But I had to try! You wouldn't respect me in the morning if I hadn't!

I suspect there will be many a Canadian that don't read the fine print and just order away. Hence my suggestion.

And, while I have your attention, as a prospective wanna-be customer, I love your prices. As someone that has advocated TiVo launch an iVOD service as a method of becoming profitable for the long term - YOUR RENTAL PRICES ARE TOO CHEAP! I think you could charge a buck or two more for movies. Perhaps you'll premium price the HD content in the future!

Bet you never thought you'd read that on this forum!!!!!

...Dale

 

[HDTiVo]

YOUR RENTAL PRICES ARE TOO CHEAP!

No, they are in US dollars.

 

[Dajad]

No, they are in US dollars.

But with the Canadian and U.S. $ coming close to parity these days - once you convert to Canadian currency its still cheaper than renting from Blockbuster - without all the hassle.

FYI, I submitted a refund request through following Amazon.com links

Help (top right) --> Customer Service (right margin) ---> E-mail Tab ---> "Returns and Refunds" option

I'll let you know if/when they process refunds for the two movies I ordered.

...Dale