I'm looking for something that has a working guide. I was planning of buying a DTVpal DVR, but it seems like the TGOS system isn't very reliable.

I'm currently using a PC with Vista Media Centre and an HD Homerun tuner. I need to find something for my family that doesn't require a computer and is fairly easy to use.

Any suggestions would be welcomed! :)

Thanks!

Yeah, TVGOS is horrible in Canada, only a few channels have it activated, the rest are CITY TV PROGRAM 4202 or whatever.

For my old CRT TV I have a Tivax STB-T8 which works fine, it has an analog pass through as well so you can still get TVO and any other non-digital channels without having to disconnect the whole thing. You should be able to find it at The Source.

I also have Vista Media Center. I added an xbox 360 so i can access Media Center from the TV. All you need is the xbox 360 arcade version which goes for $199. You get the exact same interface on the tv as you do on the computer.

Joelberg: you're actually thinking of the PSIP guide, which is indeed horrible in Canada; TVGOS is a completely different thing and is run by TV Guide.

I've been having FANTASTIC success with TVGOS on my Sony DHG-HDD500. CTV is the Canadian (analog) source for TVGOS - the feed is great for Canadian stations, but far too light on US stations (missing plenty of big ones). So I've instead been using WNED's digital feed and it's been utterly reliable - it has all of the US channels (over 420 stations available in the feed) but is a tad light on Canadian channels and is missing one of the OMNIs, SunTV, and I think one other minor one.

Standalone OTA HD DVRs are essentially non-existant. I think you can count the number of models released on one hand; currently there's the DTVpal and a TiVo (with monthly fee). I really wish Sony had stuck with their model, since I can only imagine how good their further generations would have been.

The one catch is, as far as I can tell, the TVGOS used on the DTVpal is rather stripped down and isn't nearly as customizable as the "normal" one.

Slight correction, Daniel. It is not customizable AT ALL. In our area, It only pulls the data for 2-1 (NBC), 4-1 (CBS), 7-1 (ABC), 23-1 (CW), 49-1 (MyTV), 17-1 (PBS) and 17-3 (Thinkbright).

It used to have data for Fox (29-1) and WNYB (26-1) but that data stopped suddenly sometime back in the spring. It's never had data for 2-2 and 2-3, or any of the 51-x channels. And no data for any Canadian channels. Rovi, the new name for the company that operates TVGoS isn't interested from hearing about problems from end users. The customer service at Dish/Echostar isn't helpful on this stuff either.

It fills the non-TVGOS channels with in most cases, atrocious PSIP data.

Overall, this product is not "fairly easy to use" and if "something for my family" is what you want, I can't recommend this product.

It's hard to understand why they're make the DTVpal so "foolproof" by removing all customization... and thereby make it completely useless when stuff somehow doesn't fill in automatically. It's probably an issue with the default channel numbers used... but regardless, with my "normal" TVGOS device I have nearly everything I want (as mentioned just a couple of very minor channels missing), and hundreds of channels I don't even need.