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NTL Ariel feed
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Posted by: John_Bell

I have had my TiVo for nearly 2 months now.

I receive an ariel feed via NTL for BBC1,BBC2,ITV,Ch4 and Ch5 only which uses deliberately different RF frequencies (to avoid interference) to the air born signals.

When I first got my TiVo, I reported a problem to TiVo customer support in that it did not list any of my terrestrial channels making the unit almost useless allowing manual recording only.

I thought at the time this would be a simple fix for TiVo, as all they need to do is add the channels to the RF line-up, so I held on in anticipation of a fix and was assured by customer services that "TiVo are working hard to fix this problem"

2 Months later there is no word on a fix.

Natural, I decided not to subscribe to TiVo until this problem was resolved, so my TiVo account is status "7-Suspended" and about to run out of data.

Firstly, is there any news on a fix for the channel line up?

Secondly, when my box decides I don't have any schedule data left, I understand it will even stop me from doing manual recordings making the box totally useless, I am concerned about how long it will take for TiVo to re-activate my box, as I have read about people waiting several weeks for their subscription status to change (which is not a big problem while you have existing program data).

Any advice appreciated.

Regards, John Bell.

Posted by: Stupot

Have you seen UK_Rob's thread on the recording problem http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/For...TML/000623.html

Stu

Posted by: dulstone

John

I'm in the same position. I use NTL analog cable to get the terrestrial channels as I don't have an Ariel and I use A Sky Digibox to get all the satellite stuff.

My biggest problem is that I cannot get TiVo to record ITV as it does not recognise the ariel channel as ITV and ITV is not supplied by satellite (yet).

Does anyone have a dummy postcode that gives Sky Digital (100-999) but gives the following associations for terrestrial :-

C21 - Channel 5
C25 - ITV London
C27 - BBC2
C29 - BBC1
C31 - Channel 4

Help !

Rob.

Posted by: altman

Yes, I have the same problem (on ntl too). I've called TiVo support for 2 months and nothing has been done.

Others have managed to get TiVo support to add a "special" postcode, eg 00004, with their channel package on it. I've tried this a few times, but this just seems to confuse the support people. The last one sounded very concerned and said he would escalate the call & call me back. Ok, there has been christmas inbetween, but it's getting on a bit and still no call.

Very frustrating having a useless box. If it gets to 3 months then it's going back and I'm going to make sure I get a full refund from Dixons...

Hugo

Posted by: Marshy

I'm on NotThatLate too, and haven't even bothered with the RF shifted channels on the NTL wet string. I actually ended up caving in and buying a loft aerial for my house a few days back. Much fun with loft insulation and silly coax cables as a result.

That fixes the RF channels, with the obvious exclusion of Channel 5. And I'm only a few miles from a local transmitter <rolls eyes>.

TiVo: any word, then, on sensible support for the RF channels we get for free on NTL's cable feed? Sounds rather like UK TiVo support still need a kick up the proverbial to educate them about how TiVo works, particularly w.r.t. cable-based RF feeds. This *should* be so easy to fix: one call to the right person in NTL to find their regional RF channel assignments. One global e-mail to Sky support staff to tell them all what special case postcodes map to which NTL cable areas. Et voila. Happy(ish) NTL customers.

Disclaimer: OK, so right now I'm deep into a post-Christmas cup of sauce. I *am* therefore underestimating how hard it probably is for an external company to root out the "right person" in NTL who knows the RF channel mappings for the whole of NTL's network. Hell, NTL has been so aquisitive of late that it's likely that there is no "right person" in the singular sense. However, while NTL is bad at dealing with common scum (i.e. customers), I'm sure they ought to be paying rapt attention to the likes of TiVo, n'est pas?

And if I'm being desperately cynical, which I usually am when it comes to "big companies", I'd suggest that the tie-up deal that Sky offered TiVo sounded great in principle, but the devil is in the detail. I've seen so many tie-ups between companies that have been marketing-lead ("as recommended by Sky...") that have fallen down when it comes to actual delivery of actual technical product or services. Looks like this is the case here. I have not (and will never have) any intention of subscribing directly to a Sky service. Yet, despite this, all my tech support comes through Sky, and I have to stare at their logo every time I use the TiVo, and every time I look at Channel Highlights, despite the fact that I only receive terrestrial channels at the moment. TiVo customers and, transitively, TiVo themselves would seem to get the raw end of this deal in reality. That's a bit sad if you ask me. And if none of that makes any sense, blame the Fonseca.

Don't suppose I even dare mention NTL digital, eh? :-)

[This message has been edited by Marshy (edited 12-27-2000).]
[This message has been alcohol-assisted by Marshy (12-27-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Marshy (edited 12-27-2000).]