Richard's Tech Reviews

Language selection for HIDIVE on Apple TV

For shows with multiple audio tracks, HIDIVE doesn't provide the ability to switch between languages on the fly in Apple TV.  If you pull down the audio display, it will just say Language: Unknown.

To set the language, you have to do it in your profile.

Account -> Profile Settings -> Language

Previously:
January 3, 2023  Fixing HIDIVE spinning loading on Apple TV

Siri for search and nothing else on Apple TV

I had assumed you could use Siri for full control on Apple TV.  Push the button on the remote, say what you want, and then use your voice to navigate every on-screen prompt.

You can't.

You can use Siri to search for "iTunes" (Apple TV store) movies and television.  And that's it. It's basically solely a workflow for finding iTunes content.
It doesn't even seem to use the deep cross-application search that the Apple TV itself can do.

It definitely can't search into Netflix.

The lack of additional voice control commands makes for a really clunky modal switch where you search using Siri but then have to do all the Buy or Rent steps using the clickpad on the remote.

Apple claims it can recognize onscreen labels but this functionality is super flaky.  If they're across the top of the screen maybe.  If they're buttons, usually not.

This is extra annoying because Apple has at least three workflows for buy or rent, including two vertically stacked Buy | Rent buttons, a single Buy or Rent button that takes you to horizontally scrolling Buy or Rent buttons, and horizontally listed Buy or Rent buttons (in the iTunes apps).  And then multiple steps after that to actually rent and play.

Once you have a search result on screen, you should be able to say "Buy and play this movie" or "Rent and play this show".  But you can't.

You get ridiculous results, like if you say "Rent", it will search for and find the movie "Rent" rather than renting whatever is on screen, and if you say "Wednesday", it will search for and find a movie called "Wednesday", even if you have Netflix with the TV show.

Even if they just added a voice control clarification like "Label", you could say something like "Label: Rent".  But you can't.

You also should at least be able to use qualifiers, like "Wednesday on Netflix".  But you can't.

Apple Support - Use Siri on your Apple TV

About the only useful additional Siri feature is "what did they just say?" / "what did he say?", which will rewind ~30 seconds, turn on Closed Captions, replay the scene and turn off closed captions.

You could in theory also use Siri to control playback but I don't see why you would.  Turning closed captioning on and off might be useful, although I don't know how good it is about selecting audio and captions languages, if it can do that at all.

You might also in theory use Siri to "type" a search query whenever you have a text search box, but that's mode switching again since you'll have to navigate to the search box using the remote clickpad anyway.

It's basically like a fragment of a feature, rather than full voice control.

Fixing HIDIVE spinning loading on Apple TV

On my Apple TV 4K, when I play a show on HIDIVE, it shows Loading and then a circular spinner and then… it just spins forever.

Thanks to Reddit for this fix: while the spinner is spinning, press pause and then play again on the remote, and it will play fine.

HIDIVE really needs to fix this playback bug.

Over the air HDTV in Ottawa

Channels

These channels are free (if you have all the hardware to receive them) but they are regular broadcast television with ads, which may be a bit jarring if you're used to streaming services.

Note that reception is very sensitive to antenna position (including angle), antenna strength, and even to weather conditions.

Make sure your coax cables are solidly connected to the antenna and to the television or external tuner.
Depending on your tuner it may take quite a few seconds (10 to 15 seconds) before it shows a signal for a channel, it won't necessarily tune in instantly.

Also if you're using an antenna indoors, you should step considerably away from the antenna before testing; your body is surprisingly effective at blocking a digital TV signal.

Channel	Station	Service	Resolution	Reception (in my location)
4.1	CBOT-DT	CBC	720p	good
6.1	CIII-HD (CIII-DT)	Global	1080i	good
9.1	CBOFT-D (CBOFT-DT)	Radio-Canada (ICI Radio-Canada Télé)	720p	good, with intermittent issues
11.1	CHCH-DT	CHCH	1080i	good
13.1	CJOH (CJOH-DT)	CTV	1080i	good
14.1	OMNI2	Omni	1080i	good
15.1	CTS-HD	Yes TV (former Crossroads Television System) - religious broadcasting	1080i	good
24.1	TVO	TVO	1080i	good
32.1	CHOT-HD (CHOT-DT)	TVA (TVA Gatineau–Ottawa)	1080i	not getting any signal
43.1	CHRO (CHRO-TV / CHRO-DT-43)	CTV 2	1080i	good
60.1	OMNI1	Omni	1080i	good
65.1	Citytv	Citytv	1080i	good

Antenna

I'm using an Antop AT-402B antenna with the signal gain turned on.  It's big for indoor use (68cm tall) but good at getting a signal.  I have to point it out the window and adjust the angle very carefully in order to get a good signal, as digital TV is line of sight.

Tuner: ATSC vs ATSC 3.0

You will need either a television with a built-in ATSC tuner, or an external tuner.
If it's an ATSC 3.0 tuner that's fine, it will work with regular Canadian ATSC signals (there is no ATSC 3.0 broadcasting in Canada, although you might be able to pick up signals if you're near the US border).

Towers

There are two main digital TV (ATSC) towers in Ottawa (in the National Capital Region, the NCR).

Digital TV is line of sight, more or less.

Ryan Tower

Ryan Tower (Radio-Canada) on Camp Fortune.
Latitude: 45° 30' 9" N, Longitude: 75° 51' 0" W. https://cbctransmission.ca/en/map#289

Herbert Corners tower

Herbert Corners tower.
about 45° 13' 2" N, 75° 33' 49" W

Apple TV audio track selection

Apple TV has two audio track selection interfaces.

On older Apple TVs you swipe down on a play screen to get an interface in the top centre of the screen, with Audio as one of the options.

On newer Apple TVs you swipe up on a play screen to access some tiny icons in the lower right of the screen, right above the bar showing time played/time remaining.  One of the icons is for audio track selection.

As a side note, on Disney+ through the web the audio track selection is a small clickable icon available in the upper right of the screen.