Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

PVRs Down Under?

Posted by Cliff on from the tivos-for-koalas dept.

mgkimsal2 asks: "My in-laws are leaving tomorrow for Australia and they've become quite fond of our Tivo. They asked if there was any way to get Tivo in Australia, but I'm turning up a blank. It seems that some people are hacking it to work over there, but it's not commercially available. Are there other PVRs commercially available in Australia? Similarly, are there any cool PVR products in other countries we've not seen in the US yet?"

5 of 22 comments (clear)

  1. TV Schedules? by costas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Are there any PVRs out there that can be pointed to a custom TV-schedule? I live in Greece, and I could probably get a UK PVR to work over there (same voltage, both PAL, just change the plug), but the issue is TV schedules... Can any of the non-TiVO PVRs be customized in this way?

    1. Re:TV Schedules? by funky+womble · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know about the schedules, but you may have to watch out for sound too - apparently UK TVs in Spain get picture but no sound, so I wonder if this may be a problem in other countries too.

  2. PVRs are not widespread... by Rob+Parkhill · · Score: 3, Informative

    The very first PVR available in Canada was only released a few months ago, and it is tied to a specific satellite TV system. I would be very surprised if TiVo had a system that worked in Australia.

    The annoying part is that all it would take to make a TiVo fully functional up here are the show listings. We use the exact same TV standards as the US. We even get some of the same channels. Yet after all these years, there still isn't TiVo or Replay support for Canada.

    Buh.

    --
    "Tomorrow's forecast: a few sprinkles of genius with a chance of doom!" - Stewie Griffin
  3. Japan has a sort-of tivo by TwoStep · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sony licensed the TiVo software, and has something sort of like TiVo but without the guide data in Japan. I think it is basically a little more than a digital VCR, which is too bad. I think the main problem with overseas markets is the guide data (what is on all the different channels), which can be difficult to get right (as anyone with a TiVo or Replay knows)

    Twostep

    --
    There are 10 different types of people in this world... those who understand binary, and those who don't.
  4. Re:tridge is australian by mgkimsal2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's great but not what I asked. Excellent that tridge is hacking a tivo - where did he buy it? The local appliance store in Sydney? Or was it imported. Yes, I did the obligatory 0.05 second search - doesn't mean it answered my question. Nothing mentions whether or not you can actually GET a tivo in australia - tivo.com certainly don't mention it, and yahoo.com.au has nothing on tivo. My inlaws (in their 70's) aren't going to be hacking an imported tivo - they don't like it that much.

    --
    creation science book