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Message from Average Joe:
Dear savvy consumers and blog followers,
thank you so much for your feedback concerning this item. After reading your comments and doing some additional research I have decided to retract my initial review recommending this item due to the lack of support of Channel Master of its Canadian customers. It seems many of the issues you have raised could be easily fixed by a simple software update, and yet Channel Master has made none available and refuses to give a timeline.
Coming up short: one of many frustrating problems for Canadian CM-7000PAL users is the inability to enter a 6-character Canadian postal code. This means that crucial TVGOS (TV Guide On Screen) data being broadcast by CTV cannot be downloaded to enhance the PVR experience of the end user. A simple software upgrade could easily solve this as well as other reported issues such as slow channel changes and remote response. At over $300 a pop, wouldn't you think Canadian consumers deserve some resepct/support?Due to "crippled" functionality and limited features to north-of-the-border residents, I cannot in all honesty no longer recommend this item for purchase to Canadian consumers at the current list prices of its major Canadian distributors. It is very unfortunately as minor software tweaks would certainly make this unit a must-have for any OTA enthusiast.
The CM-7000PAL is essentially the famous Bell TV PVR that is re-purposed for OTA DTV signals. Even the remotes are doppelgangers. Unfortunately it lacks the back-end support that could have easily made this a great product for all Canadian OTA TV viewers. With that being said, I sympathize with the frustration felt by many of you. What's strange is that most of you are not necessarily upset with the quality of the product but with the inability of the manufacturer to take a few basic steps to make this product exceptional.