Favorite channels disappear in TiVo Live Guide

[BlankMan]

<Added 29-jun-2004>

***** NEWSFLASH ***** NEWSFLASH ***** NEWSFLASH ***** NEWSFLASH *****

TiVo is looking for volunteers to help them acquire data regarding this problem. TiVoOpsMgr has posted an official request here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=2058640#post2058640) (in this thread) requesting participants. The post also mentions that DirecTV is aware of this problem. Finally, an official statement to such, and I was so getting used to I've never heard of that problem... :rolleyes:

***** NEWSFLASH ***** NEWSFLASH ***** NEWSFLASH ***** NEWSFLASH *****

<Addition end 29-jun-2004>

Anyone else having this occur periodically?

I use the TiVo Live Guide set to Favorites, my favorite channels are set. Every once in a while I press the Guide button and I get the following message:

This Channel list has not been set up.

To use a different channel list, press DISPLAY.
to set up this channel list, press the
TiVo button, then Messages & Setup,
then My Preferences, then Customize Channels.


This is very frustrating (as in it's happened more then once) and basically BS because they were set, the TiVo unit lost them and I have to set them up again. This has happened on a number of different Sony SAT-T60's. No one else erased them or reset the TiVo. The TiVo did it all on it's own. Software Version is 3.1.0-01-1-011.

<addendum 12-Dec-2003>

This problem also manifests itself as losing Channels I Receive. Then because the DTiVo no longer thinks it gets that channel anything that was suppose to be recorded on the missing channels is not. This is no longer a minor inconvenience it is now affecting the ability of the DirecTV Receiver with TiVo, or DirecTV DVR as DirecTV calls it, to do the one thing it is touted to do, and that is to record programs.

<updated 29-Dec-2003>

A synopsis of this problem, with thanks to kevinm for contributing parts of it.

A large number of DirecTV subscribers are experiencing a bug with DirecTiVo's that has gone publicly unacknowledged by DirecTV. This thread demonstrates the magnitude and scope of the problem as well as DirecTV's handling of it.

When this problem occurs you may loose some or all of the channels in your Favorite Channel list and/or some or all of the channels in your Channels I Receive list. The later impacts your ability to record programs. To restore the Channels I Receive requires you need to reboot your DTiVo, to restore the Favorite Channels list you must manually re-add them. Again and again and again.

It is known that many people have called into DirecTV on this issue and it is recommended that those who experience it also do the same. Reporting of this issue is one of the strongest methods of getting it resolved. Unfortunately the front line CSRs either do not know or instructed not to acknowledge this as a known issue. It is recommended that you ask for a Tivo Specialist and ask for N day's credit for days that you were unable to view or record DirecTV.

Contributed by Mark Lopez

Clear and delete won't fix it. Hacked or unhacked doesn't matter. Phone line or not has no bearing. Seasons passes or any recordings makes no difference.

BlankMan WARNING: SO DO NOT DO A CLEAR AND DELETE AS DIRECTV MAY SUGGEST IT WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM IT HAS BEEN TRIED, ALL IT WILL DO IS ERASE ALL YOUR RECORDINGS, SEASON PASSES, ETC.

<updated 28-Jun-2004>

stevel asked that the OP be updated with these facts:

- There is no fix available
- DirecTV has no clue if or when a fix would be made available - they are now, at least, sometimes acknowledging that they know about the problem
- If you complain enough, they'll likely offer to replace your S1 boxes with S2 boxes that don't have this problem. They will ask for a $49 fee, but sometimes they'll waive it.

However, as of 28-Jun-2004 as mentioned in this post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=2056286#post2056286), it mentions that a new software version is going out that is supposed to correct this issue. Let's all hope...

[BlankMan]

I can't believe this but I suppose I should not be suprised this was DirecTV's anwser to this problem:


Dear <BlankMan>,

Thank you for writing. We apologize for all the inconvenience this matter may be causing. Resetting your system can resolve many of the problems you could be experiencing. To reset your system, follow these steps:

1. Turn off the receiver box.
2. Unplug it from the electrical outlet.
3. Leave it unplugged for 15 seconds.
4. Reconnect it to the electrical outlet and return to normal viewing.

If this does not resolve your problem, please call our technical support
center. To reach them, call 1-800-531-5000 and select the option for
technical assistance. We appreciate you as a DIRECTV customer and hope
you continue to enjoy DIRECTV service.



Kate
DIRECTV Customer Service

[minorthr]

I have been having a similar problem but its with the channels I receive. Ill take the box out of standby and it will say it is acquiring the sat signal it does its thing and all the channels are back even the ones I don't receive and had previously unchecked. Also then when I go into the suggestions it says I have no thumbs but you go in the guide and the thumbs are there. Then after a day the suggestions and thumbs are all back.

[sendsley]

I have that EXACT issue (as the original post) - and it seems to be more frequent on my Phillips 6000 than my Sony SAT 60 but it happens to both and it sucks!!! And yes, I got the same response from DirecTV - no help of course. And guess what....after you call they're going to make you do the same frigin' thing, and surprise, surprise it still won't work!

[BlankMan]

I knew this wasn't going to be fun.

After bantering (nicely) back and forth with TiVo Support they escalated the call and said someone would contact me. Well they did, today, Aaron from TiVo Corporate called. I explained the problem to him and he fully understood it. He said he would do some research, talk to some people and get back to me, but it might take a few days. I asked him if he had access to engineering and engineers and he explained that he did and it could be passed up to engineering to get an answer.

That was the good news. He called me back later today with the bad news, or as he put probably not what I wanted to hear. And it was/is exactly what I expected and was exactly what I was afraid of when DirecTV took over responsibility for DTiVo's.

He said, he was told, that I have to contact DirecTV and go through their support then if they determine it's a problem they have to contact TiVo. My worst fears realized. Unless I'm told differently, I don't think DirecTV writes the code, they can't fix the code, but I have to jump through their hoops.

I'd wish someone would explain to me how this procedure benefits customer satisfaction?

[Joey303]

I've already been through this Tivo-DirecTV runaround, in order to resolve a similar problem -- it resets my Channels-I-Receive list, which totally screws-up TiVo's recording of Suggestions. I'm told by folks on these boards that DirecTV does this purposely and that it's not going to change. Good luck.

[BlankMan]

This just happened again on my tivo1, I'm going to start tracking this, this is just ridiculous and unacceptable. The units uptime is 19 days so it didn't just have a problem and reboot.

Boy, do I ever feel like I bought something and I'm left holding the bag as they say.

[BlankMan]

Well it happened again, a week or two ago, I forget which of my T60's, 1 or 2, all that was left was the NASA channel, so I programmed it again.

Then last night it happened again, all favorite channels poof gone! On TiVo1. It's been up for 48 days so I doubt it a reboot issue.

I've PM'd TiVoPony twice, both seemed to be delivered, nary a response. I know DTV is suppose to support these, but this code came out at the same time DTV took them over so I'm betting TiVo still wrote it.

This isn't even poor customer support. This is no customer support.

A known problem. Repeatedly occurring. Nothing being done. Ignoring it does not seem to make it go away.

Think I'll try a more direct approach at getting TiVoPony's attention. Right after I borrow my friend's, who is a fireman, flame retardant suit...

[BlankMan]

Thank you TiVoOpsMgr. No, I PM'd him back on May 29th and then on June 6th, it was either not received or ignored. I still have them in my Sent Items but they disappeared from Message Tracking.

[stevel]

This has happened to me three times so far in the last two months. The Favorites list gets wiped out. What has also happened twice so far is that the guide data index is wiped out and takes a day to get rebuilt, with the result that shows drop off the To Do list because they're "no longer in the program guide" even though you can go to the time and channel and see them.

Like you, I complained to DirecTV and got the brush-off.

I've had my DSR6000s for a year and a half now, and this problem is new in the last couple of months. No reboot occurred - just a loss of data.

My guess is that it's one of those infamous "APG Resets" that DirecTV denies knowing anything about, but in the past, they've been somewhat more benign (resetting the Channels You Receive to include all channels.) DirecTV's response to that is to use the Favorites list, which is not supposed to be touched. Except now it is...

[Gunnyman]

ok
so let me UNDERSTAND this...
My Directivo isn't a TIVO supported device AT ALL?

Jeeeze I feel like I am back in the same boat I was in with my buggy as bugy can be PVR 501 from E*

is my 5 bucks a month a licensing fee or something?


:(

[Chris Gerhard]

I have never lost channels I receive or any channel list for that matter on any of mine and I have had a DTiVo since October 2000. The bug must be a result of something that I am not doing and maybe caused by a memory overload. It may be possible to dump error messages for review by DirecTV to identify the cause. Unfortunately intermittent bugs that occur once in a while in a small percentage of units are tough to identify.

Chris

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Gunnyman2k3
is my 5 bucks a month a licensing fee or something?


:(
If you're referring to the TiVo fee in my mind it covers getting the Program Guide info.

[TiVoStephen]

Folks, thanks for the description of the problem. We're investigating with DIRECTV. (As was announced previously, DIRECTV is responsible for the technical and customer support for all DIRECTV with TiVo DVRs.)

Can anyone who is experiencing this issue please send me their 15-digit TiVo Service Number, and the timeframe of when the favorites or other channel lists were cleared?

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Chris Gerhard
I have never lost channels I receive or any channel list for that matter on any of mine and I have had a DTiVo since October 2000. The bug must be a result of something that I am not doing and maybe caused by a memory overload. It may be possible to dump error messages for review by DirecTV to identify the cause. Unfortunately intermittent bugs that occur once in a while in a small percentage of units are tough to identify.

Chris
No offense but this doesn't add a lot of value, the fact that it's not happening to you and your speculation as to the cause and that intermittent bugs are hard to fix. I never knew that. :rolleyes: And it's probably not happening to a lot of people but it is happening to some and has been reported and was blown off. Very frustrating. Very.

If it's a bug tell us it's going to be fixed or not, if it's on purpose tells us it's on purpose, just own up to it. We may not be happy with the answer but at least we'll know whether is a software glitch that will be fixed or we have to live with, or some executives idiotic idea.

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally posted by Gunnyman2k3
ok
so let me UNDERSTAND this...
My Directivo isn't a TIVO supported device AT ALL?

Jeeeze I feel like I am back in the same boat I was in with my buggy as bugy can be PVR 501 from E*

is my 5 bucks a month a licensing fee or something?


:(

Part of the fee goes to TiVo and the balance offsets part of the cost to provide the service. Despite what some write about the product here, it is very stable and the service provided by DirecTV is a great value in my opinion. This product works better than any audio video product I have owned and I have been buying home audio video equipment for over 30 years. There have been a few bugs and bug fixes have not been has quick as I would like but I accept that. The Dish PVRs have more serious bugs and offer performance that is not even close to this product.

Without exception, I have turned the TV on for almost 3 years now and programming of my choice is waiting to be viewed at my convenience. This disappearing channel list bug must be annoying to those that have it and I understand their frustration.

Chris

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally posted by BlankMan
No offense but this doesn't add a lot of value, the fact that it's not happening to you and your speculation as to the cause and that intermittent bugs are hard to fix. I never knew that. :rolleyes: And it's probably not happening to a lot of people but it is happening to some and has been reported and was blown off. Very frustrating. Very.


Your whining adds absolutely no value. Try to determine what you have done before it happens and see if you can help determine the cause. Just whining will never fix the problem. If you are too frustrated and expect DirecTV to fix it based on your complaining, get something that works better. If not and you want to help fix the problem do something about it.

Chris

[BrettStah]

Are you guys using Standby mode, by any chance? Someone earlier in the thread seemed to link the symptoms with Standby mode, so I'm curious if everyone else reporting the same symptoms also use it. I never use Standby mode and have never seen this issue yet.

[stevel]

Here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=117846) is my earlier thread on this problem.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Chris Gerhard
Your whining adds absolutely no value. Try to determine what you have done before it happens and see if you can help determine the cause. Just whining will never fix the problem. If you are too frustrated and expect DirecTV to fix it based on your complaining, get something that works better. If not and you want to help fix the problem do something about it.

Chris
This shows how much you don't know.

I did absolutely nothing. Wasn't even using it. Haven't in probably a week or more. Last time I used it the Favorite Channels we're there, last night they were gone.

I haven't watched any recorded shows. I haven't changed or added any Season Passes. I haven't altered it's recording habits in any way nor manually deleted or added any recordings.

And whining? You must have a very different Dictionary then the rest of us. I do believe I am reporting a problem. I do believe I now have the attention of TiVoOpsMgr, someone who may be able to do something about it. I do believe he is trying to help.

And what are you doing? Nothing. At least nothing that is of any value that can solve the problem. Unless you're a TiVo software/hardware engineer and not letting on.

Now please, let TiVoOpsMgr handle this.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by BrettStah
Are you guys using Standby mode, by any chance? Someone earlier in the thread seemed to link the symptoms with Standby mode, so I'm curious if everyone else reporting the same symptoms also use it. I never use Standby mode and have never seen this issue yet.
No, I never use Standby, I leave them on all the time and they are on a UPS also. This way if I happened to turn on the TV in the middle of some program that looks good I have it in the 30 minute buffer.

[BrettStah]

Oh well, it was worth a shot!

This reminds me of the sporadic problem with the time drifting on DirecTivos... took a long time (too long) for DirecTV to acknowledge the problem, and it has occurred again once or twice at least since they initially fixed it. It appears to be related to receivers that get local channels off of the 119° satellite. If both tuners were on channels from that satellite, the clock would drift, sometimes winding up over a minute slow. Then when it would switch channels (late, of course) to channels on another satellite (like 101°) the time would re-sync correctly, but the recording would wind up a minute or so short.

[Mark Lopez]

Here is where it happened to me http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=121914

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally posted by BlankMan
This shows how much you don't know.

I did absolutely nothing. Wasn't even using it. Haven't in probably a week or more. Last time I used it the Favorite Channels we're there, last night they were gone.

I haven't watched any recorded shows. I haven't changed or added any Season Passes. I haven't altered it's recording habits in any way nor manually deleted or added any recordings.

And whining? You must have a very different Dictionary then the rest of us. I do believe I am reporting a problem. I do believe I now have the attention of TiVoOpsMgr, someone who may be able to do something about it. I do believe he is trying to help.

And what are you doing? Nothing. At least nothing that is of any value that can solve the problem. Unless you're a TiVo software/hardware engineer and not letting on.

Now please, let TiVoOpsMgr handle this.

I am not stopping anybody from doing anything and I am happy to let anybody fix the problem that can. So that is an absurd request for me to let TiVoOpsMgr handle it. Show me where I have done anything to impede anybody from fixing it. DirecTV is responsible for the fix and I have read about 10 posts from you complaining about the problem including requests for DirecTV to acknowledge deliberately doing it or that there is a problem and since they haven't fixed it, at least respond to you acknowledging the problem. That reads like whining to me. If I had the problem on one of mine and not the others I would make an effort to determine what might be different with the affected unit. The bugs on DTiVos have always been fixed slowly including the reversed right and left audio when using the digital audio output that affected all units a couple of years ago. This bug is rare and so far the cause unidentified as far as I know. Reporting the problem is fine, I would have reported it if I had it as well. My posts acknowledge a problem that needs to be fixed and were to the point in my opinion.

Chris

[BlankMan]

You know, reading your other threads got me to wondering if the box looses it's list of channels I received from DTV and it thinks I don't receive a particular channel, it then removes it from the Favorite Channels list. That would be logical. So for some reason it loses all channels and then goes and removes them one by one from the Favorite Channels list. So the root cause may be something DTV signal/receiver related, due to a problem or glitch or on purpose, and not really a TiVo software problem.

But when this happens, it does not happen across the board, usually to 1 out of 4 DTiVo's, the other 3 do not loose the list, so that would say that particular DTV receiver is targeted.

<edit spelling>

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Chris Gerhard
I am not...
I'm trying to say this as nicely as I can, I don't care about your opinion, I don't care for your help. So, read between the lines.

TiVoOpsMgr is handling it, he just PM'd me.

[Fustanella]

That explains the hidden face on the avatar. :rolleyes:

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Fustanella
That explains the hidden face on the avatar. :rolleyes:
I don't get it? What does?

Actually not hidden, the camera adjusted the exposure based on the background, I just thought it fit the moniker. That's a un-retouched pic, it's surprising, the detail is there, just can't see it, gamma adjustment will bring it out.

[neilaevans]

Just wanted to add that I've had a similar problem twice within the last year...my DSR6000 has forgotten which channels it receives (and thinks it receives none), causing my favorite channels to disappear as well. The only way to fix it has been to go back and manually re-add all of the channels back to the "channels I receive" list.

As I said, this has happened twice in the last year, after working flawlessly for about a year before that. And no, standby mode is not used.

[BeauB]

I have had this happen many times and on at least two of my three DSR6000's and on my Sony SAT-T60. I have had it drop my favorite's list settings as well as my modified "Channels You Receive" list. It is very frustrating since DTV puts so many useless channels in the mix (like between ESPN and HGTV, all the stupid shopping channels, the religious channels, etc...)

BlankMan - thanks for pushing this issue with Tivo! I must have reset my fav's 10+ times on each box. It will be great if they come up with a fix!

Just to add - never use standby and I have seen this happen on a Tivo with no hack's/upgrades. I have left my vacation home with everything working just fine and then when I return in a couple of weeks the lists are blown away. Another time I was watching TV, surf the guide - selected a channel from the guide watched for a second and then pressed guide again to find an empty guide.

[dbuchthal]

I just ran into this exact same set of symptoms. There is a TiVo in my house that is seldom used. Today, I walked up to it and there were very few channels in the guide including none of my locals. After playing with it for a while, a few more channels and some more guide data showed up, so I changed over to one of the new channels that had reappeared. Five minutes later, that channel was no longer authorized and my guide had shrunk down to less than one screenful.

[BlankMan]

dbuchthal that sounds a little bit different. What I'm seeing and a lot of other people are now also reporting is that the channels that are set up as Favorites when using the TiVo Live Guide on a DTiVo all disappear and the DTiVo then instructs you to set them up like they've never been set up in the first place.

Are you referring to the Favorite channels you set up when using the TiVo Live Guide? Do you get he same message on the TiVo as in my original post that started this thread?

If I set the Guide to display "All" channels or channels "You Receive", channels show up in the Guide, but when set it to "Favorites" the messages that thinks you never set them up is displayed.

[dbuchthal]

Ah, no, my problems were with the All Channels section of the guide. Basically, all my channels started disappearing from the guide. I found that cycling power seemed to fix things up for me, but it forced me to go through the satellite setup screen again on power-up.

[Tutman]

Just wanted to chime in to say it happens to me also way too often. I have two DSR6000s, one unmodified, one with 130hrs. Both units are always on (no standby ever), and are on a UPS. Both units are sitting side-by-side, and periodically one or the other will lose favorites. Happens to one machine or other at least every 3 months.

The last time it happened (a few weeks ago), I was on vacation. Only one unit lost the favorites list. I rebooted the machine, and favorites were still blank. My wife has to call-out the channel numbers from the other room (quicker than writing them down).

[PJO1966]

I had the same problem with my Hughes. It was the favorites list that was wiped out on two different ocassions. I never use Standby and use my DirecTiVo every day to watch and/or record shows. It seemed to happen when I was lax in hooking up the phone line for my monthly call.

[BlankMan]

It's good to see people crawling out of the woodwork as they say, and reporting the same problem, especially on unmodified units, that way it can't be blown off as modifying is the cause.

[PJO1966]

I don't know if my DVR could be considered "unmodified" since I upgraded the hard drive. Also, I hardly "crawled out of the woodwork". I first posted this problem back in January here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96468) then again in February here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102749)

[Eben]

It's been awhile since I've experienced similar problems (1 DSR6000 and 1 Hughes series 1). In my case I'd turn the TV on and hit the guide (which is set to Favorites) only to find it completely empty of channels or with just a few. However, I wasn't able to just go to set up Favorites because the channels were GONE from CYR! I had to "reset" the machines in order to get the channels back and then redo CYR and Favorites.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by PJO1966
I don't know if my DVR could be considered "unmodified" since I upgraded the hard drive. Also, I hardly "crawled out of the woodwork". I first posted this problem back in January here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96468) then again in February here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102749) What? You're taking offense to a phrase I used? Lighten up a bit.

And you first reported it back in January and February. Good for you. If it's still occurring for you then I would think you be glad to see this thread and the fact that it has now gotten TiVo's attention and TiVoOpsMgr is actively looking into it.

I don't understand the purpose of this post? Did you just feel the need to report that you were first or what?

[PJO1966]

I only post when I have a question or something to contribute to a thread. You'll notice that we registered at the same time and I have less than 30 posts. The main point of this post was to clarify that my TiVo was not necessarily unmodified. The rest of it was not to say "I was here first", but to point out that this problem has been documented in the past. I have not had a problem since I posted in February. I believe you should stop taking things too personally. My post had nothing to do with you and had everything to do with the problem at hand.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by PJO1966
I only post when I have a question or something to contribute to a thread. You'll notice that we registered at the same time and I have less than 30 posts. The main point of this post was to clarify that my TiVo was not necessarily unmodified. The rest of it was not to say "I was here first", but to point out that this problem has been documented in the past. I have not had a problem since I posted in February. I believe you should stop taking things too personally. My post had nothing to do with you and had everything to do with the problem at hand. My reference to unmodified was not in reference to your post, it was in reference to Tutman's unmodified DSR6000. Your post shed no light as to the state of your unit, so how would I know?. Just because a post shows up directly after yours does not mean its contents is in answer to yours. I was concerned that TiVo may blow off the problem because my T60's were expanded, and the fact that it is happening on unmodified units was good news.

And this had been happening for a long time before I got feed up with it and started this thread. I did do a search before I started this thread to see if anyone had mentioned it earlier but I failed to see your earlier threads otherwise I would have just added to them. Maybe if your Subject had been more definitive, like this thread, the search engine would have found them.

I just thought I'd add some levity to the post by using that phrase but I see it fell on deaf eyes. :D

And don't even get into post count, I obviously contributed more :D, especially in the DTiVo cooling arena.

[TiVoStephen]

We're still investigating this issue, both internally and with DIRECTV.

So far, the units that have presented themselves as examples have all been extensively modified units. I'm wondering if there's someone who has NOT altered their unit in any way who has experienced this recently? If so, please sent your 15-digit TiVo Service Number to me.

Thanks,
Stephen

[BrettStah]

A poster previously in this thread said that one of his DirecTivos is unmodified and has had the problems...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=1281209#post1281209

[BlankMan]

TiVoOpsMgr first let me say thanks for your continuing effort. Per Aaron's suggestion, as of this post, I have connected the T60 that seems to be having the problem the most to different ports on the Multiswitch. I swapped this T60 with an unmodified HDVR2, so we'll see if it stays with the T60 or moves to the HDVR2.

Just for the record this is a Spaun 5802 less than a year old and I typically see signal strengths in the 90's to 100 with the Spaun set to no gain (0db).

[stevel]

I too heard from Aaron suggesting a change of multiswitch output. This makes no sense to me, but I suppose I can try it. (My multiswitch is built in to the dish.) The thing is, this problem does not show up on a predictable basis.

The problem unit does have an added disk and a TurboNet card.

[alphawave7]

Yep, this problem is ancient, but fortunately infrequent. My first experience recorded here:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70022

All I can offer at the moment (away from my DTiVo's) is that both of mine are unmodified, both on a multiswitch, both have the problem every 5 months or so, never at the same time, but very close to each other..usu. within a week or several weeks of each other. It's randomness will prolly make this bug harder to squash. :mad:


edit: Interesting to note that the above thread is about 1 year old...coinkydink?? :confused:

[BlankMan]

alphawave7 glad you referenced that thread, that shows it was happening with 2.5 code so it was an existing problem and not a 3.1 problem. I don't remember when it started for me exactly, the first few times I blew it off, then it became an annoyance, now it's unacceptable. It's happened to me 4 times now just since I started this thread, so that's 4 times in 2 months, way unacceptable.

stevel when did you hear from Aaron, today? Just wondering, he called me today. I'll try anything at this point to rule it out or narrow it down.

[alphawave7]

Hmmm..I hadn't considered the SW version angle..no worries,tho, since it doesn't seem to matter. My frustration is compounded by the fact that it behaves in clusters...I'll get zapped, reset favs, and get zapped again on the same rig a week later, then months of normal behavour.
Somehow I think DTV wants me to see what new channels they've added,since I tend to whittle down my Favs and ignore all the other stuff. When I was zapped several weeks back, I discovered several channels I didn't know we had. :cool:

[stevel]

I had a message from Aaron on my answering machine yesterday.

[boberonicus]

My DSR6000 (modified to 105 hrs) also exhibits this problem from time to time. But I would caution the Tivo Ops Mgr to not assume any correlation between the problem and the modification. After all, it is logical to assume that people reading this forum are more likely to be the sort of people who would upgrade their Tivo.

But the people not reading the forum, and still having the problem, aren't telling us about it. They've called Directv and rebooted their boxes. And since Cleatus doesn't even know that he could set "favorite" channels on the magic box, he isn't complaining, he just tells Brandine to pull the plug again. Or should I say "agin".

[alphawave7]

Cleatus and Brandine?:rolleyes:
Not an upgrade problem...both of my units are bonestock, with the only 'mod' being the SPS30S skip.

[BlankMan]

Update: My DTiVo #2 has lost most of the Favorite Channels I had set in the TiVo Live Guide, the only two that are left are:

374 BYU
376 NASA

Everyone off the 101 SAT is gone. Hope this might help TiVoOpsMgr

[stevel]

That has happened to me too, and the significance of the 101 satellite hadn't occurred to me before.

[Dale Sorel]

My unmodified DirecTiVo lost all of its Favorite Channels today :(

[bocktar]

I have a completely unmodified SAT-T60 and it completely forgot the "Channels I Receive" settings about a week ago.

It has done this a number of times before.

I do use standy.

The problem is very irritating, as I dislike it when TiVo tries to record wishlisted movies from channels that have commercials like TNN and USA (which I take away using the Channels I Receive list). Also, no matter how many times I tell TiVo I don't like shopping channel programming and religious programming, it eventually suggests and autorecords something if I don't remove the offending channels from the list also. I don't want to turn off suggestions though...I like the feature when the channel list is properly filtered.

If I tell TiVo that Channel # x is no longer received, it should consider it no longer received forever unless I tell it otherwise. Even if D* changes the entire channel lineup.

[bocktar]

It has happened again.

Maybe I should program a really long pronto macro to go through and reset the list automatically! It's really just a long sequence of "enter" and "down" commands.

ARGH!

[alphawave7]

For tracking reasons...just to report I have never used 'Standby' on either unit.

[alphawave7]

:(
Came home to a DTiVo stuck at 52% acquiring..System info said things are fine, downloaded guide fine lastnite. Did a system reset to complete the guide d/l..and blammo! Favs are all gone again. I'm too tired to screw with it tonight..good thing I have a few episodes of Reno911 to get caught up on. DTV..please fix this.:mad:


edit:speling

[Tutman]

Happened again overnight sometime between 11pm Friday and 8am Saturday. Nasa channel was the only one left in favorites. This receiver, it has been a few months since it has happened. I'll PM TivoOpsMgr to see if they are still interested in debugging it.

[BlankMan]

TiVoOpsMgr it just happened again on my TiVo2 a T60 on Saturday 10/04. The only channels left are:

374 BYU
376 NASA
511 HBOL

Once again it appears all channels from the 101 SAT have been removed. This T60 is still running 3.1.0-01-1-011 software. (I now receive HBO, that's added since the last occurance.)

Is there any progress being made on this?

[TiVoStephen]

Folks, thanks for continuing to report this issue. We are still investigating (and I'm sorry that I didn't respond directly to those who wrote me to report this issue).

As our engineers investigate, one other question I was asked: Has anyone experienced this problem on a newer "Series2" Combo box (from HNS, Philips, Samsung or RCA) as opposed to the older "Series1" Combo boxes (from HNS, Philips or Sony)?

If your TSN begins with a 0 (001, 011 or 031) you have a Series1. If it begins with a 1 (101, 121, 151, 181) or 3 (301, 321, 351, 381), then you have a Series2.

[Tutman]

Anyone with a Series 2 DTivo with this problem? Anyone...? Anyone...?

I've got two Series 1's and it happens on both about every 3 months. TivoOpsMgr, could it be caused by a memory leak or something else, where a preventative reboot every couple months might get around the problem? I've got both units on the same UPS, and neither unit gets rebooted.

[tivoreno]

Happened to my Hughes series 1 sometime after midnight last night. Woke up to almost no channels "available". Last successful call Tuesday Oct 7 8:14 am; Guide data to "Oct 8"; favories were gone. I restarted the unit and all channels are back, Guide data now "Up to Sun, Oct 19". Favorites still gone and channels I receive set to all channels.

Edit: To do list shows "none scheduled" for all programs. I better not miss the baseball playoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Smiles]

The same thing happened to my Hughes series 1 sometime between last night and this afternoon.

My favorite channels list was cleared.

The list of channels I receive was screwy - I was missing a bunch of the Music Choice channels, for instance. Just gone.

My to do list was cleared. The recording history said that none of my shows could be recorded because the guide data had changed (or was deleted or some message to that effect).

I had the message that said I only had 1-2 days of guide data when I went into any Pick Programs to Record area.

I went into the Satellite Dish Setup and checked the signal strength on the transponders. My locals were all 100, the rest ranged from 88-95 with the exception of transponders 30 and 32, which were in the high 70s. (This has been typical for me for a while now, so the signal strength was not unusual.)

But the really bizarre thing was that while I was testing the signal strength, the TiVo would 'lock up'. I couldn't use the arrow keys to switch transponders, or even get out of the menu. I had to hit the TiVo button to go back to the main menu, then navigate back to the Satellite Dish Setup to test more transponders. I could get through 3-8 at a time before it locked up.

After running through all this, I decided to reboot the unit. It came back just fine, although I was still missing my favorites and to do list. But everything else was functioning fine.

My other units (an HDVR2 and a DSR6000) didn't experience any problems. It is usually the Hughes that loses the list the most, although I'm not sure why. Both the Hughes and the Philips have been upgraded to single 120GB drives, but that's it. (I don't think that's considered 'extensively modified', but what do I know?)

[BlankMan]

TiVoOpsMgr it just happened again on my TiVo1 a T60 on Wednesday 10/08. (TC was down so I couldn't post this then.) It's still running the 3.1.0 software, not the b and the last reboot was ~10 days before that.

This time there are no remaining channels and I get the message to set it up like it's never been set up before. This is very annoying.

[paksen]

Well I'm relieved to see I'm not the only one experiencing the problem. I wouldn't have come looking for a solution if it wasn't for the fact that I missed West Wing on 10/8 due to this burp.

Paks
Philips 6000

[BlankMan]

TiVoOpsMgr This is getting a little ridiculous. My TiVo3 unit a SAT-T60 running 3.1.0b-02-1-011 just lost all its Favorite Channels again. Not only did it lose all it Favorite Channels, it lost most of the Channels I Receive, the only one left are:

125 128 130 134 135 138 140 142 145 148 170
374 379 411 426 432 455 456 511 652 849

Now, TiVo1 & TiVo2 both SAT-T60's and TiVo4 an HDVR3 are all fine, and all 4 of these units are connected to the same Spaun multiswitch and the same dish.

TiVo4 an unmodified HDRV3 now running 3.1.1b-02-2-151 rebooted itself last Friday and sat at the Welcoming Powering Up screen until Sunday when I caught it. This unit has been problem free before that. All these units are on a UPS.

You have been aware of this problem for 4, close to 5 months, it has been going on for a long time before that, how long do you expect your customers to put up with this before you come up with a solution?

[RonP]

TiVoOpsMgr - This just happened to me, too. Totally virgin DSR6000. S/W v3.1.0-01-1-001. Last call 10/15 12:58am.

All Favorite Channels were gone and the Program Guide said that I needed to go set them up again. Everything in the To-Do list was cancelled because the shows weren't in the program guide.

Here's a clue...It likely happened at 6:14pm PDT. TiVo was recording Junkyard Wars on TLC and Good Eats on FoodTV. When I got home around 8:30pm I went to play JYW and noticed that it was cut off at the 14 minute mark - but it was still on the channel. I hit Guide, which I had set to display Favorites, and it was blank - except for the error message telling me I needed to set it up, again. Good Eats was cutoff, too.

I've rebooted (didn't help) and am currently in the process of rebuilding my list. Argh. Glad I caught it tonight and not Thursday night!

This is real!

[boberonicus]

Just lost all the favorites on my DSR6000, running 3.1.0-01-1-001 . It's been nine weeks since this last happened. My primary gripe is that I keep a fairly long favorites list and it takes me a long time to set it all up again.

My assumption is that there is no plan to fix this problem. The DSR6000 is a legacy product and the bugmeisters are probably focused on current products.

Robert Fenerty

[ebonovic]

Add my #2 unit to the list of victims.

Last night around 11:00pm CST is when it occured.

A reboot repaired it, but now I have to go back and re-setup the channels I recieve.

Where is this stored? Hard Drive or Access Card?

[BlankMan]

I was informed a little over a week ago that TiVo was able to reproduce this problem. TiVo has contacted DirecTV and informed them of this bug and it is my understanding that DirecTV has to tell/ask TiVo that they want it fixed.

So the ball is entirely in DirecTV's court as to whether or not this will be fixed. My guess is that the shoddy way DirecTV operates when trying to deal with then regarding any problems with their DirecTV Receiver's with TiVo they will probably never address and correct this problem. I'd love to eat those words....

Maybe we could all contact DirecTV and ask them to get it fixed but from past experience asking DirecTV to do anything is pretty much useless.

I'm going to continue to post all my events here just in case anyone at DirecTV is inclined to read this.

[litzdog911]

Blankman:
Thanks for continuing this thread. My one-year-old Sony T60 had never had this problem until yesterday. At about 4:40pm PDT on October 23 something happened to my Channels Lists (see below).

I will call also DirecTV to complain about this and reference the fact that there is a fix that Tivo can implement.

Reviewing this thread, some common clues might be:
* it does seem like the problem is limited to Series1 DirecTivos.
* Modifications don't seem to be factor because folks are reporting problems with unmodded boxes (mine only has an upgraded hard drive).
* Multiswitches might be a factor. I'm using a 2x4 multiswitch and don't have an oval dish.
* Time-since-last-reboot might be a factor. My box rarely crashes, I don't use Standby, and it's connected to a UPS. That last time my box rebooted was after getting the 3.1 software update (from 2.52) a couple of months ago.

Hopefully with enough pressure we can sway DirecTV to address this problem.

==========================================
Here's what happened to me yesterday:

My DirecTivo "forgot" nearly all of its channels. When I turned it on and displayed the Guide, only PPV movies and a few other channels were available (like Discovery Science). Very odd. And it didn't matter if I set the Guide Options to "Channels I Receive" or "All Channels". Also, most channel logos were missing in the "Now Playing" list. And all of my Season Passes showed as "nothing scheduled" in the To Do List, expect for an upcoming BMW 5-series infomercial due to record on Saturday.

Thinking that perhaps I'd gotten the new 3.1.1b software update, I checked my System Status and found that I had not gotten any software updates. I reset my DirecTivo anyway.

Thanksfully, resetting the receiver brought my channels back. And, after a couple of hours, my To Do List was again populated with scheduled recordings for my Season Passes.


Here's a link to another thread I started before discovering this one:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139455

[BlankMan]

litzdog91, thanks, and nice job of summarizing.

Let us know how your conversation with DTV went. Getting them to understand the problem is the first hurdle, getting them to believe you, a lowly customer (no offense intended) that TiVo has a fix seems insurmountable. :D

[Mike Bateman]

Originally posted by TiVoOpsMgr
Folks, thanks for continuing to report this issue. We are still investigating (and I'm sorry that I didn't respond directly to those who wrote me to report this issue).

As our engineers investigate, one other question I was asked: Has anyone experienced this problem on a newer "Series2" Combo box (from HNS, Philips, Samsung or RCA) as opposed to the older "Series1" Combo boxes (from HNS, Philips or Sony)?

If your TSN begins with a 0 (001, 011 or 031) you have a Series1. If it begins with a 1 (101, 121, 151, 181) or 3 (301, 321, 351, 381), then you have a Series2.

I have a Hughes DirecTiVo Series 2 and my symptoms are a little different. I don't use the favorites so I don't know if they are broken. However, I do use the "Channels I receive" option. What I'm seeing is that channels I've turned off, come back. What is even more strange is that the channels involved are all shopping channels. I've turned off GEMS, CSHN, HSN, etc. Within hours they start showing up again in my channel listing. Nothing else shows up except the shopping channels. I find that very odd.

And irritating.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Mike Bateman
I have a Hughes DirecTiVo Series 2 and my symptoms are a little different. I don't use the favorites so I don't know if they are broken. However, I do use the "Channels I receive" option. What I'm seeing is that channels I've turned off, come back. What is even more strange is that the channels involved are all shopping channels. I've turned off GEMS, CSHN, HSN, etc. Within hours they start showing up again in my channel listing. Nothing else shows up except the shopping channels. I find that very odd.

And irritating. I think I've heard that DirecTV does this on purpose, like when new channels are added so that you get them, but also maybe to put those shopping channels right back in your lineup. Don't quote me on this, like I said I heard but really didn't pay that much attention to it because I wasn't having the problem. I think it's that people suspect DirecTV of doing this but of course DirecTV is very hard to get information out of and would probably never admit to it.

[mkdevo]

hello folks,

i started a thread here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139529) a few days ago, and was ultimately directed to this thread, though it doesn't seem like anyone's having the same problem as me. here's what i posted in the other thread:

HELP!! All of my Season Passes read 'None Scheduled' (HDVR2/3)

hello all -

all of a sudden yesterday, all of my season passes read 'None Scheduled' in the To Do list, and they all say 'no upcoming episodes' when i look at them. i tried rebooting yesterday when i first was made aware of this, and when i went back into my To Do list, it said something about some guide data not available, the rest will be there within 24 hours. it said that in a black box at the bottom of the screen.

that message is now gone, but the SP's are still messed up. when i press Guide, i can scroll through channels and see what's on, so it looks like all the data is there, but if i try to pick programs to record, by title, there's a very limited number of titles listed, and i can't find any of the shows i want in there.

anyone know what's going on here? i forced a phone call, and it was successful, but did nothing.. thanks in advance..


the message that i spoke of there is now back (and this hasn't fixed itself yet).. i grabbed a screen of it and attached it so you can check it out.. anyone have any clues?? TIA.

[mkdevo]

bump... anyone?

[khark]

One of my Philips 6000 Directivos did this a couple of days ago. This is 4 or 5 times over the last year or so.

[kenr]

I own four Series 1 Direct TiVos. Yesterday one of them, a DSR6000, showed only about 20 channels in the program guide: the music channels and a few specialized corporate channels. It resulted in all of my Thursday night programming not being recorded because the shows were no longer in the program guide. After rebooting the unit, all channels came back.

I assume this is just another case of what people are reporting on this thread.

[Mark Lopez]

As I mentioned earlier, both of my series 1 DirecTiVos do this periodically. One did it again sometime in the last few days (just noticed yesterday). The favorites were all gone and the Channels I Receive were all checked. This doesn't happen that often, but it's a PITA to have to keep setting it back up.

[jbalfour]

I guess I will add my story to the thread.

I have two Hughes GXCEBOTs. One that is untouched, and one that has a hd upgrade. The one that is untouched occasionally resets the channels I receive to all channels. I do use Standby. The modified GXCEBOT has not done this. The modified GXCEBOT lost all its guide data on Sunday night. I ran Setup again (did not reboot or power down) on Monday, and the guide came back. All other settings appear to be intact, and I did not have to wait for the guide data to repopulate. It was instantaneous.

Losing the 'Channels I Receive' is an annoyance, but losing the guide data made me lose a lot of recordings.

[jburst]

Add me to the list of people affected by this bug. I have a series 1 Hughes dtivo, and last night I came home to:
* A to-do list that looks like swiss cheese ("X is no longer in the program guide")
* No video at all on local channels or premium channels (HBO, etc)
* A completely unhelpful DirecTV rep on the other end of the phone.

Rebooting left me with:
* Video restored on all channels
* To-do list still cheezy
* A "channels I receive" list with everything selected
* No more unhelpful DirecTV rep

I manually reset the "channels I receive" list, and manually added back a few programs which were supposed to record in the next few hours (through the recording history, selecting "record this episode also").

By morning my to-do list was back to normal.

Hey DirecTV, you listening? If you have the software fix from TiVo, send it over! :mad:

[Tutman]

Blankman, any word on what you were told from Tivo about them being able to reproduce it? I want to know if there is some kind of workaround in the mean time, like rebooting the receiver at least once a month. There have been no responses from anyone that this happens on a Series 2. It does seem to me at least that it happens to both of my receivers about every 2 to 3 months. I never reboot them, and both are on a UPS. I guess in the mean time, I'll go ahead and reboot them once a month.

[BlankMan]

Well it happened again, on TiVo1, turned on the TV and had the message on the screen that I wasn't allowed to view that channel, call DTV, and it was one of the basic channels. So I looked and sure enough, all my Favorite Channels were gone again, and 75% of The Channels I Receive were gone too! All that were left were:

215 374 376 379 400 401 403 405-411 413 416-420 425 426 438 439 455 456 511 589 610 625 631 655 703 720 723-725 728-732 740 742-748 753 845-849

Most of which I can't view anyway! Then I got the message "Acquiring Program Guide Data from Satellite. Some data available now. Full data in 1-2 days." So I checked my recording history and sure enough it missed recording some programs because they were no longer in the guide, and more are schedule to NOT be recorded for the same reason, until the guide data catches up.

TiVoOpsMgr, this has become unacceptable and it seems to be getting worse, not better. Now it's affecting the units ability to record programs, it's whole one and only purpose in life. More and more people are posting about losing channels, losing guide data which is screwing up their SP's to the point where they have to delete them and reenter them to get them back. It was annoying when it lost Favorite Channels and one had to put them back, but now it's failing to record.

How does DirecTV expect to sell DVR's when word is going to get around that they are not reliable? And your names on them too so it will reflect on TiVo also. All we need is some reporter to get a hold of this information and interview a few people that are having problems and there we go again, another slam article. We (and you) don't need that.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get DirecTV to address this and be a little more forthcoming with information that they are taking it seriously and will fix it.

When a TiVo can't do it's thing, record, because of a bug like this, it becomes just another high tech boat anchor.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Tutman
Blankman, any word on what you were told from Tivo about them being able to reproduce it? I want to know if there is some kind of workaround in the mean time, like rebooting the receiver at least once a month. There have been no responses from anyone that this happens on a Series 2. It does seem to me at least that it happens to both of my receivers about every 2 to 3 months. I never reboot them, and both are on a UPS. I guess in the mean time, I'll go ahead and reboot them once a month. No, no advice was given. I doubt rebooting once a month will help you, my unit that just acted up was only up for 8 or 9 days, I did some maintenance on it last weekend (backup after 3.1.0b). I'm having it happen more often then you and this last time it missed some shows I wanted, that is unacceptable. I PM'd TiVoOpsMgr to check my latest info so we'll have to wait and see.

[alphawave7]

Was just curious if DTV has added any new channels recently..are the guides changing in any way? (I rely on my season passes so much, I don't notice the guide much anymore).

Edit: The NFL channel was recently added...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141527

I suspect the guide update may be the culprit. Damn..I'm scared to turn on the tele, now. :eek:

[Tutman]

I suspect the guide update may be the culprit. Damn..I'm scared to turn on the tele, now.

This may be the trigger, but definitely not the cause. If it was the cause, it would happen to both receivers at the same time. Mine seems to be one, then the other, with the frequency approximately the same, but may be a month or two apart. I wish I would have written down the dates of everytime it has happened.

I haven't lost guide data like you, Blankman, but then I haven't had the problem yet since getting 3.1.0b.

I just want to know if there is a workaround. If Tivo has replicated and fixed the problem, then let us know what to do in the mean time. It's getting VERY frustrating. I'm not going to call D* and educate some poor kid, just for him to suggest rebooting the receiver. We've been asked for our help in isolating instances, which several of us has done, then a glimmer of hope that they might know what the problem is, then silence.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Tutman
This may be the trigger, but definitely not the cause. If it was the cause, it would happen to both receivers at the same time. That's true because it never has happened to more than one of my receivers at at time. But do all receivers get the new channel update at the same time?

[BlankMan]

Ok I came home tonight and TiVo3 had both tuners tuned to channel 278 and it was telling me 'Channel not available'. I looked in the Favorite Channels Guide and the only channel there was 278, but I couldn't view it. I went and looked at Channels I Receive and these were the only ones left:

279 299 300 301 307 308 311 315 325 327 329 331 333 335 339 350 351 376 400 403 408-410 439

It's been up for over 10 days so it wasn't caused by a reboot. Once again it has failed to record programs because it lost it's guide data. There's programs tonight that it is suppose to record but it says it won't because they are no longer in the Guide Data. Once again I get the message: "Acquiring Program Guide Data from Satellite. Some data available now. Full data in 24 hours." The only difference is this one says 24 hours, yesterday TiVo1 said 1-2 days.

TiVoOpsMgr does this have anything to do with DirecTV rolling out new channels? Two different units in two days seems too much of a coincidence. Is DirecTV just going to be mum on it because they know it happens but they still have to do it so they just do it anyway? Ta' H*ll with the customer?

[TiVoStephen]

Folks, I'm sorry that I don't have much to report. We do have engineers investigating the issue and are in contact with DIRECTV regarding this issue. I'll ask for a status report tomorrow and let you all know what I find.

[alphawave7]

I just posted the above because it's the only pattern I can detect when *my* DTiVo's do this..seems to be within several days of the guide getting a new channel added. I've got poor memory of these things, but I recall Fine Living (if that's what its called??) being added when I had this problem, and now NFL and a small flurry of reports..so I can only surmise it's more than coinkydink. Sorry Blank has it so bad(two fer three), but his persistence may get this fixed, which would be nice, indeed.

[hookbill]

Wow, this has been reported since May and now we are in October and the best TiVoOpsMgr can say is "they are working on it"? I got to askwhat are you working on it with, a monkey wrench?

This has happened to my GXCEBOT twice in the last month! Oddly enough it hasn't happened to my HDVR3 at all, and I hope to God it doesn't or else I'll really be P.O.d.:mad:

Come on DTV lets show a little attention here! 6 months worth of complaining and you can't fix it? That is not good customer service!

[cvarner]

Another newbie here....
Same problem with Favorite Channels List disappearing. This happened a few times over the summer on my T60, and I thought it had to do with a lightning strike down the street from me. It just happened again today, and researching the problem brought me here. I called Sony and they told me to do a "clear and delete", which is not an acceptable option. After reading through all the messages in this thread, I can't believe it hasn't been addressed after having been documented for almost a year! This is ridiculous. Aaarrgghhh.

[coorsflash]

Twice over this past summer this has happened to me. Both times when I went away on vacation. I would come back and hit my list for shows to watch and.....nothin. All my shows didn't record. both times i noticed that when I would hit the tivo button the screen would go black, just for a second, before it would bring up the menu. It normally doesn't do this, which is why it got my attention. I don't know if this will help TiVoOpsMgr but I thought I would post it in case anyone else has noticed this.

But just like everyone else, all my channels were gone and i had to reboot. It's an unmodified Sat-t60. I got a new Hughes series 2 today and was thinking of putting it in the bedroom, not the main tv room, because I heard that series 2's did not have as good a picture quality as the series 1's. After reading all these posts I'm starting to think it might be worth it if it means survivor and CSI, and friends, and alias, etc. etc. gets recorded.

[mlipscom1959]

I too have this same problem every month or so. It is very annoying. It happens to both my Tivo boxes, but never on the same day. I've given up on calling Directv. They work from a script and you cannot have any problems that vary from their script or they cannot help you. (please reset you box. Please remove and reinsert the access card, blah blah blah) I can tell you I am sick to death of re-entering channels I receive--I could puke.

[malixsys]

I have a problem that might be related. I always remove shopping channels from the channels I receive list. I never use them, and if I need to, I can see them by changing the guide to all. BUT some of them keep coming back! For example, I keep having to remove 228 GEMS from the channels I receive! Is this a DirecTV gimmick so I will HAVE to see those channels? Anybody else have a problem like that?

[PaJo]

3 units were untouched, one has a hard drive added, all are put on standby when not is use. The problems only started a few months ago.

All four have shown similar problems with the "channels you recieve list " being changed - none at the same time, it's as though DTV is sending updates to add/remove channels and on a few occassions all the channels are lost except for PPV , I need to re-boot to get back the locals etc. and then the "channels you receive" list appears to be reset to include all the channels. I assummed it was DTV resetting things trying to encourage me to upgrade or sign up for NBA/ NHL, whatever they are pushing at the time. We have also experienced going to a regular channel and getting the message we must call DTV to gain access, usually a reboot fixes this but the "channels you receive list is always screwed up when these problems happen. We do not use the "favorite channel list" so I can not confirm that list is being screwed as well. If it only happens once in a while it is not unbearable, but when two or three units do it the same week it is frustrating manually changing everything back again.

I know DTV can reboot the Dtivo, one time I had a problem and the CSR rebooted the Tivo for me, we keep all of our receivers upstairs feeding into a switching unit,, I was talking to the CSR while downstairs and she wanted me to reboot the one system - I told her I must go upstairs to do that and asked her to wait- when I got upstairs it was already rebooting - I told the CSR that and she siad "yes I did that from here" Being a cynic I suspected it is DTV these problem for some purpose, perhaps forcing everyone to upgrade, much like Microsoft use to "break" things to get people to upgrade to the products they wanted them to use ( documented in the DOJ VS Microsoft antitrust trial) or perhaps just a few CSR that are learning how to use the system.

[Berto]

I'll add my name to the list. I have a T-60 modified with a second drive, that lost all favorites three times in the past month. My other two units (one modified DSR6000 and one unmodified DSR7000) have never had this happen to them.

I was thinking it could be the beginning of a hard drive failure, but now that I've seen this thread, I'll hold off replacing everything. In the meantime I have to make a point of checking that unit daily, lest it get blanked again and screw up a bunch more recordings.

By the way, when I called D*TV Tech Support, the guy had never heard of this problem and could only suggest a reboot. When that didn't work, he tried to sell me the extended service plan!

Maybe we need to make a concerted effort to call in these problems to their tech support and escalate them to a supervisor. At least that way, we might get more visibility to the problem.

[Eben]

Originally posted by malixsys
I have a problem that might be related. I always remove shopping channels from the channels I receive list. I never use them, and if I need to, I can see them by changing the guide to all. BUT some of them keep coming back! For example, I keep having to remove 228 GEMS from the channels I receive! Is this a DirecTV gimmick so I will HAVE to see those channels? Anybody else have a problem like that?

That is SOP for DirecTV. The only way to avoid seeing them is to set up your Favorites list to include the channels you wish to surf and set the guide to Favorites. Channel "adding" doesn't affect the Favorites list.

[stevel]

This doesn't help when all of your received channels are REMOVED, and the favorites cleaned out as well, which is what this is referring to.

[cvarner]

In my T60, my Favorite Channel list went away and my Season Pass shows were not being recorded, but my Channels You Receive list was still there (albeit with channels I had previously removed). Strange.

[RonP]

cvarner -

Welcome to our club. This problem has been around a while and more and more people are experiencing it (or are reporting it). So far all we've heard from TiVo is that they are "working on it". That's not exactly the response I'd expect for a "data loss" bug that appears to be fairly common.

It might be time to dust off the old VCR :eek: for when I'm out of town.

[laxet]

I'm new here, & just read this thread. I would like to add myself to the list of people experiencing this problem. I have a Phillips DSR6000. This happened to us for the first time about a month ago. We came home from the Miramar Airshow & found the problem, so it occurred either on 10/16 or 10/17. We tuned in to a local station & it wasn't available. This was odd, because the unit was on a station that we don't watch.

At first, it looked like only the foreign language channels were there, including the latino HBO (there were more, we discovered later, like a couple of Showtimes). We called DTV, & eventually they had us reboot the unit to return the stations we subscribed to. It wasn't until later when we checked the to do list that we realized that nothing was recording (or going to record). We had to (we thought) go through our 40 some season passes & schedule them to record again.

A glitch, we thought. Then it happened again this weekend. Instead of calling DTV, I just did the reset to bring the stations back. My mother has the same unit, but has not experienced this.

We do not use the channel lists & do not use standby.

[wired711]

Greetings fellow disappointed and frustrated TiVo users. We have two unmodified Hughes GXCEBOTs. Our "Channels You Receive" list on both TiVo's have been wiped out at least 3 or 4 times over the past 3-6 months (not at the same time if I remember correctly). Right now they have both lost their lists and I haven't even bothered to set up the lists yet again and until I do I'll have to keep paging through all those PPV and Sports packgage channels and other ones we don't get. We've also noticed on at least 3 or 4 times over this period that the available channels were down to just about 1 page worth. Like others it took a reboot to get them back. We never made the direct connection between this and season pass programs not being recorded but hearing others mention got me thinking and it probably explains why on a number of occasions season pass shows didn't get recorded as scheduled.

I haven't yet bothered to call DTV about this which would no doubt get the standard scripted responses everybody else gets. In the spirit of someone else's suggestion recently... probably the best thing to do is immediately ask for a supervisor (although the technician (rep) will probably insist knowing what the issue is first and you'll have to explain it all and risk getting the usual brainless time wasting suggestions). If lucky enough to get to the supervisor, explain the issue to them and ask them to please visit this thread so they have a clue as to just how many people are reporting this issue (and how many other people are probably experiencing the same thing). If nothing more, perhaps they could at least train their reps on the existence of this issue so they could be aware of it and tell folks it's a known issue and "we are working on a solution" (you know the same thing we've been told in this thread for way too long without a solution). Still, it's a less insulting reply than some rep acting like its the first time they've heard the issue and them barely having a clue as to what the caller is talking about. Better yet, maybe the caller could convince the supervisor to independently contact their supervisor and/or TiVo about it to bring more pressure to bear on a solution (imagine that).

Having DTV handle the first level support for DirectTivo units is no doubt not allowing enough information to get directly to TiVo to work on a fix. Anyway, If I try this I'll certainly report back and let you all know what kind of response I'm getting. This is really hurting TiVo's reputation since it's faltering on the very thing in life it was designed to do - record programs we've selected without worry or hassle.

Good luck to us all.
Cheers,
Doug

[hookbill]

Originally posted by wired711
Having DTV handle the first level support for DirectTivo units is no doubt not allowing enough information to get directly to TiVo to work on a fix. Anyway, If I try this I'll certainly report back and let you all know what kind of response I'm getting. This is really hurting TiVo's reputation since it's faltering on the very thing in life it was designed to do - record programs we've selected without worry or hassle.

Good luck to us all.
Cheers,
Doug

Yeah, keep us in tune Doug....but I don't believe that DTV isn't aware of this. TivoOpsMgr is, I assume their representative and while it hasn't apparently got to the DTV CSR's, he certainly knows about it.

How about it, TiVoOpsMgr. Are you still there? Your last report said you would ask for a status update and get back to us tomorrow. That was on November 5. Today is November 14.

I sure liked it better when TiVo controlled the units before DTV took over:mad: And I miss our Pony.

[BlankMan]

I PM'd TiVoOpsMgr yesterday evening, maybe we'll hear something.

[Sir_winealot]

BOINK!

Welcome to the machine. Turned on the old trustworthy T-60, and all me channels was blank!

Why go into detail when we all know from previous posts exactly what happened to me?

Amazing how you take a 'ho-hum' approach to this thread until it HAPPENS TO YOU!

Around 4pm today, my TiVo went comatose...it missed recording Judge Judy, I had to do a re-start, and I'm a little bit PISSED OFF.

C'mon already DTV...this is getting ridiculous.

I'm thinking I should email DTV this entire thread...

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Sir_whinealot
I'm thinking I should email DTV this entire thread... Do it!
<added>
I PM'd TiVoOpsMgr. Again.

[BlankMan]

TiVoOpsMgr, here's another one:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143403

[hookbill]

Originally posted by Sir_whinealot
Amazing how you take a 'ho-hum' approach to this thread until it HAPPENS TO YOU!

Around 4pm today, my TiVo went comatose...it missed recording Judge Judy, I had to do a re-start, and I'm a little bit PISSED OFF.

C'mon already DTV...this is getting ridiculous.

I'm thinking I should email DTV this entire thread...

Yep, I passed over this thread for months after all, the elephant was in THEIR house not mine!

Fortunately I haven't missed any shows because it's only happened to my GXCEBOT and not my HDVR3 where all of my important SP'S are. But that doesn't mean it won't happen there, hence my concern.

By all means please do forward this thread to DTV....and lets try to keep it on the front page because as this problem occures randomly to others who have ignored it in the past they will see it and post!

[hookbill]

Originally posted by TiVoOpsMgr
Folks, I'm sorry that I don't have much to report. We do have engineers investigating the issue and are in contact with DIRECTV regarding this issue. I'll ask for a status report tomorrow and let you all know what I find.

Ok, it's November 17th now. Blankman has pm'd this guy twice, somebody else has started another thread and still no answer. Even a "I still don't have anything to report" would be decent at this time, although not very acceptable.

I just want an explanation. Sunspots. Somebody pushed the wrong button. Act of God. The devil did it!.......DTV, can you hear us????

[Tutman]

Since D doesn't acknowledge the fact that there is a known problem when we call, I believe I'll remind them between 9:00pm and 9:30pm EST (that's 6:00pm to 6:30pm for you PST people) on Wednesday, Nov. 17th. I wonder if there will be many of us inquiring about the status during this time;)

[Dirac]

Bah. Happened to my T60 (note sig: UNMODIFIED!) again o/a last Thursday. My favorites list was empty and my channels I receive list had all channels selected.

So, Wednesday at 9 pm? That would be Wednesday, November 19. Just want to make sure we all feel compelled to report the ongoing issue on the proper date.

EDIT: No, rebooting didn't fix it. Both DTiVos are on UPS's now so if it happens again I know it's not an outage problem either.

[Tutman]

My bad. Yes, I believe I'll be calling on Wednesday the 19th at 9pm EST. Hopefully by 9:30, D gets the point;)

[dvdude]

Wait.....the clouds are clearing.....I see....my SAT-T60 has lost it's channel list!! The clock says 8:55pm, Wednesday, 19th....I see myself picking up the phone....<SNAP>.

Huh?? Wha?? Somebody say somethin'?

[ClutchBrake]

Add me to the list.

First occurence was Wednesday October 29th. Came home and many of my channels were missing. Rebooted and everything except my Favorites were back. However, my To-Do list was blank. After a few hours it repopulated.

Second occurence was today between midnight and 8am. Turn on my DSR6K to find I have absolutely no channels. Reboot and the all the channels in Channels I Receive are selected but my Favorites are gone.

[Paul_D]

This has happened to me (DSR6000 and T-60) soo many times now I've had to create a "cheat sheet" of what channels I receive, and then what goes into favorites on both units. The last occurence was on my DSR6000 last week. Whenever it happens I have a small curse fess at the idiocy of how long this has been allowed to go on. It's happened to me since before D* took over tech support (etc.), so this is a long-term problem over several software versions.

Always the same: all channels checked in channels I receive and a blank favorites list. One unit is on UPS and the other isn't. Happens more frequently on the one that is on the UPS.

[BlankMan]

Why don't some of you, or better yet all of you, PM TiVoOpsMgr and ask him what's up? On the 5th of this month he said he would get back to us with a status, today is the 18th, he posted on this board in other threads a number of times in between that time so he has been around here, not like he's gone on vacation.

[wedgecon]

This happened to me today at 9:12 PM PST. I base this on the fact that I only got the first 12 minutes of 24. I was watching a previously recorded show and all of the sudden it said I needed to input my parental control code because the recording was on a channel I no longer receive. Went to live TV and all of my channels were gone. I did a restart and my channels came back but , my "To Do" list had no longer had any showings for my season passes. I then went into season pass manager and changed the priority on one show and exited at which point the Tivo paused forever on the "please wait.." icon. After it was done pausing most of my to do list ccame back in. I am guessing that changing the season pass sort order forced some type of index rebuild. This same event occurred a few weeks ago and I thought it was just a fluke now I know better.

I really hope this gets fixed...I am going away for a week next week and I do not want to miss my shows.

[Tutman]

I don't see what badgering TivoOpsMgr will do for us. He's kind enough to poke in here now and then. By badgering him, we'll be sure to never see him back. This is D's problem, and D needs to get this fixed. We're not Tivo's customer, D is. We just need to let D know how unhappy we've been for a real long time, and demand a resolution. They can throw their wait around on Tivo as much as they want. I'm just afraid they haven't done so. Hopefully the call "I" make tonight at 9pm, will let D know just unhappy many of us are.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Tutman
I don't see what badgering TivoOpsMgr will do for us. He's kind enough to poke in here now and then. By badgering him, we'll be sure to never see him back. This is D's problem, and D needs to get this fixed. We're not Tivo's customer, D is. We just need to let D know how unhappy we've been for a real long time, and demand a resolution. They can throw their wait around on Tivo as much as they want. I'm just afraid they haven't done so. Hopefully the call "I" make tonight at 9pm, will let D know just unhappy many of us are. Posted 05-nov-2003
Originally posted by TiVoOpsMgr
Folks, I'm sorry that I don't have much to report. We do have engineers investigating the issue and are in contact with DIRECTV regarding this issue. I'll ask for a status report tomorrow and let you all know what I find. Did you happen to read this whole thread, particularly this post:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=1474409#post1474409

"D" has to ok it being fixed, TiVo does the fix, that comes straight from TiVoOpsMgr in a PM. He told me TiVo has been able to reproduce the problem and approached DTV with that information but DTV has to tell or authorize TiVo to fix it.

TiVo has more pull with DTV than any of us do, I'm still waiting for an answer to a ticket I opened on October 1st or 2nd, DTV keeps telling me to reboot my DTiVo that'll fix it! That is their canned answer and all they know. Good luck trying to get anywhere calling in. I doubt you're complaint will get past their 1st level support, I doubt if they'll even understand the problem, let alone get them to do anything about it. Look at the HMO petition for DTiVo's, falls on deft ears.

TiVoOpsMgr indicated he would check "Tomorrow" and get back to us, it has been many "Tomorrow's".

[Sir_winealot]

This is becoming so prevalent, perhaps this should be made into a sticky?? Heck, we're at 7 pages now....

[morgan_chiu]

Damn..was hoping I never had to check myself in here. SONY DirecTiVo SAT-60 did the same thing (fav channel listing disappearing) for the 1st time in 2 years. I set up the fav list and it disappeared again 3 days later. Keeping my fingers crossed on the 2nd reset..so far 4 days had passed.

[a/vguy]

I have had my Sat-60 for over a year now with no problems. However, in the last 10 days, I have lost My Favorites 3 times. Calling D-TV has been a joke. They tell me they will send system information, but nothing happens. My guide is completely blank each time but I can manually put a channel number in and get a signal. One final suggestion they gave was to delete and clear everything. That was not going to happen.
To correct things, I went back into the menu and manually reset my favorites. They immediately came back with all information intact. This will probably last until the next data send. The CSR I spoke to said she had never heard of this particular problem, but also said there are over 1000 CSR's around the country doing what she does. I asked her to talk to her supervisors so the problem would be known to others. And on a side issue, my two week old HDVR3 has not been affected by any of this.
Does anyone have an e-mail address where we can, as a group, tell them of our problem? "Can you hear us now?"

[hookbill]

Originally posted by Tutman
I don't see what badgering TivoOpsMgr will do for us. He's kind enough to poke in here now and then. By badgering him, we'll be sure to never see him back. This is D's problem, and D needs to get this fixed. We're not Tivo's customer, D is. We just need to let D know how unhappy we've been for a real long time, and demand a resolution. They can throw their wait around on Tivo as much as they want. I'm just afraid they haven't done so. Hopefully the call "I" make tonight at 9pm, will let D know just unhappy many of us are.

Unfortunately since I am a Pegasus customer I'm not even going to attempt it. Feel free to make a call for me Tutman.

Point is just who do we badger? I see your new to the boards so you probably don't know how things use to work around here. When we had problems TiVo Pony use to be here to listen and we got results. It didn't take 6 months worth of complaining either. Since DTV has taken over our DVR's we've seen a definite downturn in service, i.e. the sound drop off issue on the HDVR2. Although it was handled eventually it took a long time to get it taken care of.

Also, DTV customer service reps do come in this forum from time to time so I'm pretty sure they have brought the issue to there respective supervisors. We need as much help as we can get, this is not a minor problem and TiVoOpsMgr is the only one I can gripe to.

Btw, Blankman I'll also send TiVoOpsMgr a pm as well. Daily if I have to.

[Tutman]

Hookbill, I'm hardly a new member. I've been registered since May 2002 ( a year and a half ago - 6 months after you). I don't post much, only when I feel I can contribute to a discussion. I read here almost daily. I have no idea how the tag under my username will change from "New Member". Maybe its length since signing up, or maybe its based on the number of posts.

BlankMan complains that TivoOpsMgr doesn't answer when PM'd. I understand he said that he would get back to us and hasn't. Everyone sending PMs to him will cause him to just disregard all PMs. That's probably what he has already done.

My point is that D is the problem here. I have a lot of experience in the software licensing business, so I can easily guess how this is structured. D decided to stop giving Tivo monthly royalties for hosting and upgrades. Instead, D made an investment in setting up their own hosts, and pays Tivo for software maintenence, but no royalties. D has to tell Tivo that they need a certain fix, and they will probably pay Tivo to fix the problem with their maintenance dollars. Not only does D have to get Tivo to fix it, but Tivo has to actually figure out the problem.

I bet that one day I'll come home and find a new version installed, and a few months later start realizing that they actually fixed the problem. From what TivoOpsMgr said, it sounds like the ball is rolling, but it would sure be nice to hear they actually have a plan to address the issue.

[BlankMan]

Well I just cut-n-pasted all my posts that report a channel loss into an email prefixed by a short description and emailed them to Feedback@directv.com and I cc'd estephen@tivo.com (TiVoOpsMgr).

I will keep emailing DTV now until they say something constructive.

It would probably help if ya'll here would take the time to do that too.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Tutman
BlankMan complains that TivoOpsMgr doesn't answer when PM'd. I understand he said that he would get back to us and hasn't. Everyone sending PMs to him will cause him to just disregard all PMs. That's probably what he has already done.
I take people on their word and expect them to follow through when they say they are going to do something, that is all. Even if he said I have nothing new, there has been no progress, etc. that would be keeping his word.

But, what I now suspect all the more by his silence is that he has been told he can no longer address the matter even to the point that he can't tell us that he can't. DTV are, well you know, as far as getting any, I mean any, information out of them. My speculation is to prevent any competitors from using any deficiency as promo against them.

So I suspect DirecTV has censured TiVoOpsMgr and TiVo on the whole. Heck, TiVoPony can't even tell us when a switch is thrown anymore.

[hookbill]

Originally posted by Tutman
Hookbill, I'm hardly a new member. I've been registered since May 2002 ( a year and a half ago - 6 months after you). I don't post much, only when I feel I can contribute to a discussion. I read here almost daily. I have no idea how the tag under my username will change from "New Member". Maybe its length since signing up, or maybe its based on the number of posts.

Sorry, didn't mean to offend you in any way. Your right I didn't see how long you have been a member just the new member tag....which you can change yourself or after a certain number of posts.

[hookbill]

Originally posted by BlankMan
But, what I now suspect all the more by his silence is that he has been told he can no longer address the matter even to the point that he can't tell us that he can't. DTV are, well you know, as far as getting any, I mean any, information out of them. My speculation is to prevent any competitors from using any deficiency as promo against them.

So I suspect DirecTV has censured TiVoOpsMgr and TiVo on the whole. Heck, TiVoPony can't even tell us when a switch is thrown anymore.

I couldn't agree with you more, BlanMan. Something rotten appears to be going on.

I'll bet DTV knows what the problem is and wants to keep quiet about, heaven forbid you should put quality over quantity. Keep those sales going.

I did PM TiVo Ops Mgr (very nicely) about giving us some type of response. I'll be interested in seeing the responses, if any, folks get from DTV tonight.

[Tutman]

Originally posted by hookbill
Sorry, didn't mean to offend you in any way. Your right I didn't see how long you have been a member just the new member tag....which you can change yourself or after a certain number of posts. No offense taken. I didn't realize you can modify that, which I have now done.

Blankman, I bet you're right about D zipping his lip. I hope I can get to someone tonight to find out the status. Not holding my breath. The next time this happens, I won't let support off the phone until I talk to everyone in the company. Between my two machines, its happened probably a dozen times in the last year. I did create a cheat sheet to set it back up, but that doesn't make up for the lost recordings. I've had to resort to setting up season passes on both receivers just in case one loses its mind.

I would like to get an accurate count of how many people this continues to plague. I'm sure that people who don't know about this board, thinks that the problem is only with their machine. Hopefully we keep this thread active with "Me too" that it stays visible - maybe even making it a sticky would help until the issue is resolved.

[Tutman]

UGH!!!!!

I cannot believe this, and I'm sure you won't either. I was planning on calling D tonight to find out the status of this BUG.

I went upstairs to watch some programs on my other receiver, and low and behold...NOTHING in the channel guide - NADA!!!!!!!!! At least my season pass recorded last night.

I'm calling right now, and I won't get off the phone until I get an answer. I'll count how many people I talk to.

Please. If anyone has this problem on a regular basis, please demand an answer.

[loafing]

I'm in the club now as well. I have two dsr6k machines and the main/older model got nailed last night. The only channels that were showing were on the sat 2 (nasa, etc). My other box was fine.

Both of these have been hacked - turbonet/elseed/drives...

[Tutman]

I just got off the phone...felt like I got somewhere. The first guy I talked to, I started talking way over his head. He said that he wasn't very familiar with the DVR, and wanted to transfer me to a senior technician. Good so far, didn't have to waste much time.

The guy I talked with, really knew the DirecTivos because he has one at home, but his is the Series 2. He said that he had heard of one other guy that reported the problem, and they weren't sure it was legit. He said the more people that called and reported the problem, the quicker it would get escalated. He was typing notes for a long time. The technician's name was Josh. Josh, that is how a senior support technician is supposed to do their job.

This time the problem was different. I'm not sure if it is because I now have 3.10b or not. The entire guide was blank - said I didn't have my Favorite channels set up yet. The favorites list was completely blank, the channels you receive had every single channel selected, and I no longer had access to local channels. Josh tried to resend that info, but said that it couldn't communicate with the receiver. I offered to reboot via the menu option. After reboot, my local channels were back, but favorites list was still blank, and channels you receive still had every channel selected.

If this has happened to you recently, please call it in per Josh's request. I was on the phone for less than 20 minutes.

Josh - you are the posterchild for customer service. You didn't fix my problem, but made me very comfortable that you were going to do what you could do to make it known that there is a problem.

[Tutman]

Originally posted by loafing
I'm in the club now as well. I have two dsr6k machines and the main/older model got nailed last night. The only channels that were showing were on the sat 2 (nasa, etc). My other box was fine.

Both of these have been hacked - turbonet/elseed/drives... Please call it into DirecTV. Talk to a senior technician familiar with the DVR. From what we know, only Series1 DirecTivos are affected, and it doesn't matter what hacks have been done. It appears all models of Series1s are affected.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Tutman
This time the problem was different. It may look different with this occurrence but it's the same problem, I've had that derivation of the problem occur, it manifests itself in different ways. When this first started for me I didn't lose Channels I Receive and have to reboot to get them back, lately I do, so it's getting worse.

Ok, now that DirecTV is aware of the problem via your call, what's the next step? Are they going to research it and get back to you? Or did they just schmooze you and now you feel good but that's as far as it goes? (No offense intended but dealing with DirecTV things a lot of times go nowhere.)

Between your call and my email (and anyone else that will take the time to contact them) that I'm pursuing maybe they'll pay attention, but I'm not holding my breath.

[BrettStah]

My wife said she rebooted one of our Series1 Tivos yesterday because she got a "Channel Not Available" message. Is this what some of you guys are seeing too? The thread title for this thread is not as clear as it should be, if that's the case.

We've seen the "Channel Not Available" a few times, and a reboot has always fixed it. I had always blamed it on the fact that we tend to "overload" them with lots of wishlist items and the increased capacity.

[Tutman]

Originally posted by BrettStah
My wife said she rebooted one of our Series1 Tivos yesterday because she got a "Channel Not Available" message. Is this what some of you guys are seeing too? The thread title for this thread is not as clear as it should be, if that's the case.
That seems to be one of the symptoms as well. All the times that I've encountered the problem, I have lost all channels from "Favorites". I was very careful of understanding the exact state of the system this time before trying to fix it. In my mind the "Channel Not Available" is not the big problem, and therefore doesn't do justice for the topic. The problem is that we configure the system (which takes 10 minutes or more) and then one day magically it disappears. Others have reported that it misses a recording or two because of the problem. I can easily say that if I didn't catch the problem last night, it would have missed several recordings because all of my local channels were no longer accessible until I rebooted it.

The call I made last night to DirecTV - they didn't promise anything. I felt comfortable that they are acknowledging the fact that it is a problem that Tivo needs to fix, and was told that this will get the ball rolling.

I encourage everyone that experiences this problem, to please take the time to call DirecTV.

I know the next time it happens, I'll be back on the phone. They won't be able to play the "we didn't know" card with me twice. I know several people have said that they went through the proper channels too, but I don't know that for absolute sure.

[BrettStah]

I'll call the next time it happens...

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by BrettStah
My wife said she rebooted one of our Series1 Tivos yesterday because she got a "Channel Not Available" message. Is this what some of you guys are seeing too? The thread title for this thread is not as clear as it should be, if that's the case. Next time before you reboot go into Setup and look at Channels I Receive and see if a lot are missing, if so, that 's the problem.

As for the Subject of this Thread, it was 100% accurate when this problem started. As the problem has progressed the total loss of channels started which shows up as them completely missing in Channels I Receive, my crystal ball was cloudy the day I started this thread so I wasn't able to see that and incorporate it into the subject. :D

[BrettStah]

I'll admit that since we don't use Favorites regularly, I lost interest in this thread awhile back. Glad I found it!

But I'm a little confused... I would have sworn that if I type in a channel number, it'll switch to that channel even if that channel isn't listed as a "Channels I Receive" channel. Is that not the case?

[hookbill]

Originally posted by BrettStah
We've seen the "Channel Not Available" a few times, and a reboot has always fixed it. I had always blamed it on the fact that we tend to "overload" them with lots of wishlist items and the increased capacity.

I'll guarantee that overloading wish lists or SP's is not the cause. My GXCEBOTD downstairs has 3 sp's and 1 wishlish item. If that is causing an overload, I'll fire up my VCR again right now:) .

[RonP]

For what it's worth, here's the response I received from reporting the problem (see my post earlier in this thread) to feedback@directv.com

========================
Dear Ron,

Thank you for writing. We are sorry you are having technical
difficulties. If you continue to have this problem, since it can be
difficult to troubleshoot technical problems via e-mail, please call us
1-800-531-5000 and select the option for technical assistance. One of
our Entertainment Consultants will be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Mohammad
DIRECTV Customer Service
========================

[hookbill]

Originally posted by RonP
For what it's worth, here's the response I received from reporting the problem (see my post earlier in this thread) to feedback@directv.com

========================
Dear Ron,

Thank you for writing. We are sorry you are having technical
difficulties. If you continue to have this problem, since it can be
difficult to troubleshoot technical problems via e-mail, please call us
1-800-531-5000 and select the option for technical assistance. One of
our Entertainment Consultants will be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,

Mohammad
DIRECTV Customer Service
========================

ROFL.....If that isn't a typical canned response I can't help but wonder what is.

[BlankMan]

I got that response in the past also, when reporting something, I tried to get it through their head that they can't fix a software bug over the phone but they just don't understand. I've come to the conclusion that these support people are really really dense and do not understand the technology that they are paid to support -or- they are told to do that because 90% of the time the customer will get frustrated and just give up. It's all in closing calls so that they can get the J.D. Powers Customer Satisfaction Award. Yeah right.... :confused:

Brett Yep you can and it is, because on a number of these occurrences, one I can remember in particular, I think I even posted it here, both tuners were locked on channel 278 with nothing showing and I got the box on the bottom of the screen that said something like you aren't authorized to receive this channel call DirecTV to add this, or something to that affect. I then looked in Channels I Receive and the list started at channel 279, so I could definitely tune to it but I couldn't see it.

Yep I did:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=1500245#post1500245

You haven't read through the whole thread, eh? :D

[BrettStah]

Nope, haven't read the whole thing... just jumping in at the end, as usual! :)

[ssandhoops]

Just found this thread because my favorites list was blanked out yesterday. After reading through this thread, I've not seen anyone equate the problem to the daily call but in my case, this happened immediately after completing the daily call. My DSR6000 is not connected to a phone line, so I run a phone line to it every few weeks and force a call. At the end of yesteday's call, I happen to catch the update screen saying "updating data" just before it updated the "Last Successful Call" entry. Next time I brought up my guide, I found the favorites list had been emptied. So, is this just another catylst to the problem? Those of you having the problem often, perhaps you should disconnect your phone line and see if the problem does not occur when no daily calls are being made? Just a thought.

[Mark Lopez]

Lost my favorites again yesterday except for 376 (NASA). All 'channels you receive' were checked again too. This is starting to happen way too frequently. :mad:

[Tutman]

Originally posted by ssandhoops
... this happened immediately after completing the daily call. ... At the end of yesteday's call, I happen to catch the update screen saying "updating data" just before it updated the "Last Successful Call" entry. Next time I brought up my guide, I found the favorites list had been emptied. I've not been able to pinpoint it down this specific. Both of my units are hooked up to phone lines. When I notice the problem, I cannot tell how long ago it happened. It makes total sense that it would be during the "updating data". Since this usually happens only every couple of months to me, I don't think unplugging the phone line would help. Thanks ssandhoops for the additional clue. D and Tivo are you listening?

[stevel]

Yes, it happened to me again as well. The other things that happen along with this are that I lose all the local channels until a reboot and the guide index is trashed, causing shows to be dropped from the ToDo list. My wife is getting VERY irate (since most of the SPs are hers.)

[stevel]

I just got off the phone with DirecTV - again. The "TiVo specialist" I spoke with (Barron, ID #2660) said he could not find any reference in their system of a similar problem being reported! Supposedly, someone will investigate and get back to me. I was also told to call Philips, for what good THAT will do....

I would recommend that everyone who is experiencing this call DirecTV and make sure they file a "tracking report" on the problem. Otherwise it will just get ignored.

[BrettStah]

I'm calling now...

[ebonovic]

You can add me to the list.... One of my three did this Saturday -> Sunday night. There was a guide/service update at 2:00am.

[BrettStah]

I spoke with "Lucas" (didn't get his ID number though). He says (after I asked him) that he has heard of some issues like the ones I described. He gave me a 1-800 number to call directly to his department (the DVR support group I think) when the problem happens again, before I reboot it.

[BlankMan]

Just noticed this morning it happened again to my TiVo1, both tuners tuned to channel 841 and both saying "Channel not Available". Pulled up the Guide and lost all my Favorite Channels, it's telling me "This channel list has not bee set up", BS. The unit's been up for 6 days so it wasn't a reboot.

I looked in "Channels I Receive" and these are the only ones left:

173 196 271 276 371 374 379 411 412 432 455 456 583 590 627 635 719 740 789 790-793 847 849-851

Once again because of this problem this DirecTV Receiver with TiVo has failed to record programs because of this problem.

[austinsho]

And this is strictly a series 1 issue, right?

[stevel]

It appears to be a series 1 issue only, yes.

[ntrprize]

Yep, this happened to me the other day. What a PITA.

[BlankMan]

I think we've pretty much have been told that TiVo can do nothing about this, Brett linked my latest occurrence in a new thread and we got this from TiVoBill:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=1543160#post1543160
Originally posted by TiVoBill
I understand your frustration, but contacting them at the number they list in their e-mail is the best solution we can recommend. Like with any organization, enough voices have to be heard making a request before it gets above the noise of every day issues. It just plain old SUCKS! that everyone realizes the problem exists yet DirectTV is totally unwilling to admit there is a problem and do anything to correct it.

I'll keep recording my occurances here though, it keeps a record of the on going problem.

[steves]

Just happened to me again (Hughes series 1)....

Also, all of my season passes are not recording. If I look through upcoming episodes, there are shows that "should" be recorded, but aren't. I even tried changing the setting to record repeats as well as first runs, but still nothing.

I had to go through all my season passes, and manually tell it to record all upcoming first run episodes by selecting each episode.

I called DTV, and the TiVo dept was closed for the day......

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by steves
Just happened to me again (Hughes series 1)....

Also, all of my season passes are not recording. If I look through upcoming episodes, there are shows that "should" be recorded, but aren't. I even tried changing the setting to record repeats as well as first runs, but still nothing.

I had to go through all my season passes, and manually tell it to record all upcoming first run episodes by selecting each episode.

I called DTV, and the TiVo dept was closed for the day...... Steve, next time try changing the order of an SP, that causes it to re-calculate any conflicts and thus has worked for me in the past to get things back in the record list.

But DirecTV won't admit there's a problem...

[BlankMan]

This post in another thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=1543890#post1543890) might be of some interest to some of you. crusador says he works for DTV and is one of their TiVo Specialists. He is aware of this problem, lets see if someone on the inside can help.

[BlankMan]

Just noticed this morning it happened again to my TiVo1, both tuners tuned to channel 841 and both saying "Channel not Available". That is twice to this unit this week.

I looked in "Channels I Receive" and this time it looks like all channels under 198 are missing and if 841 is missing I'm sure others are missing higher up also but this time there are a few too many still there for me to want to take the time to write them all down.

Once again because of this problem this DirecTV Receiver with TiVo has failed to record programs.

[CTH]

I'm not sure if this will help the dialogue, but it happened to me this morning.

But, I can pinpoint exactly the channel dump happened. During an 10:30am recording, I received only the first 10 seconds. Then, I received the "Do you want to delete?" prompt. So, am I correct in assuming that something happened at 10:30:10 to kill my channels list? I doubt the receiver would have tried to do a full satelitte info acquisition in the middle of a recording.

Poking around, I found all channels selected on "Channels You Receive," and my favorites list was empty.

I've called DirecTV to tell them of the problem.

[Sir_winealot]

I am so SICK of this happening....WHY TF don't they FIX THIS?!?!?!?

Happened again to me...this time to my DSR6000. What a PITA.

[Sir_winealot]

Talking w/DirecTV now...they are clueless!!!!!

Guy keeps telling me it's a problem w/my multiswitch, or dish. Says there are "no other complaints logged" about this, and wants to send a technician out to check my system....

I'm really beginning to hate DTV...this is infuriating!!!!

[Sir_winealot]

UnREAL!!!!!!

I spk w/a supervisor who in turn spk/w his "special projects manager" who stated they've had "no other complaints," and that I need to "put my DTiVo's in standby mode" when I'm not watching them to prevent this from happening again.

He too then asked that I allow a technician to check my system.

They are UNBELIEVABLE MORONS.

[stale]

Ok, I just got this problem for the first time this morning. I read thru the thread here, and called into DirectTV. This is what I was told.

I talked to Andy (ID10006430) one of thier Tivo specialists, and after I gave a brief description of my problem (favorites gone, channels gone, todo gone), he quickly suggested that it was a power surge. I then indicated that many people (I said hundreds) were having this problem and I referenced this forum. He replied that he had not fielded a single call today with regards to this issue... AND they have 2 (count them... two) tivo unites there at work and they have never experieced this problem. He then made the statemetnt (and I am paraphasing) that even if it was hundreds of people having the issue, that may not be a big enought concern for them. He then suggested that it was not directtv, nor tivo software but the manufacture of the box (in my case hughes). I said from what I've gathered from this thread, Tivo may have found a fix and its up to DirectTV to ask for it and push it out to us... but he told me that they have absolutley nothing to do with the software (arrghhhh....).

So someone on this thread mentioned that this issue could be tracked, and he said there was no such option for me. The thing that pisses me off is that it didn't even sound like he queried the database to look for the original issue. I'm a programmer and I often have to seach for an old defect reports... it almost never is quick.

I would bet that hundreds of people have phoned in regarding this issue, and others have not yet. Each one that gets thru, gets a new defect entered that is never correlated with the others, thus DirectTV thinks there are a lot of unexplained isolated defects out there, that are not worth fixing.

[Sir_winealot]

Originally posted by stale

I would bet that hundreds of people have phoned in regarding this issue, and others have not yet. Each one that gets thru, gets a new defect entered that is never correlated with the others, thus DirectTV thinks there are a lot of unexplained isolated defects out there, that are not worth fixing.

And I would bet that you just hit the nail, on the proverbial head.

From my conversation with Einstein #1, and Einstein #2 last night, this is the exact feeling I 'hung-up' with....

Thing that bothered me, is that no matter how hard I tried to explain what was happening, I could tell that they both weren't really listening.......that they had already concluded "multiswitch/dish/access-card problem," and that *I* didn't know WTF I was talking about.

It was frustrating to say-the-least, and after having nothing but *good* experiences w/DTV in the past, this one has truly chapped my arse...

[RonP]

Maybe a moderator could make a sticky thread so we could track this problem, give it more exposure, and collect some meaningful data. When someone experiences the bug they report:

1) Make/Model/Series/Software version of the TiVo
2) Day and time of the bug (several of us know this because our recordings were cut off when it happened)
3) Mode the unit was in (normal, standby, recording, etc)
4) Last reboot day/time
5) Last daily call day/time
6) Other observations/comments

No discussions. Leave that for this thread.

I have tons of experience convincing program and development managers that Bug X is more important than Bug Y and that they must fix Bug Z. A seemingly random data loss bug (no matter how catastrophic) that impacts only a handful of users is way down on their fix list. However, cut through the randomness to reveal a repeatable pattern or the simple steps to duplicate the bug, and they'll take notice - especially if it turns out that it could theoretically impact a large % of the customer base.

I've read earlier that TiVo has found and fixed the bug and is waiting for DTV to request the fix. I'm not convinced this is true. If it is, then maybe they've already done the analysis and determined that the only ones potentially affected are the few of us posting to this forum :confused:

No matter, it's easy for us to collect the data and see if the conditions to duplicate it pop out.

[pottedmeatproduc]

CTH - I just returned from a few days away, and seem to have experienced a problem similar to the one described in this thread. Most of my channels had disappeared (including all local channels, plus many others). My season passes were intact, but no upcoming episodes were listed, and nothing had been recorded since late Friday night. That would mean that what went wrong happened some time Saturday morning, so that would correlate with the problem CTH had.

Resetting the DirecTivo box (mine is the old Hughes one, unmodified) got me back my chanells, but still no upcoming episodes are listed. The current channel lineup is correct, and I can manually jump ahead in the guide to record shows coming up say, Tuesday, even though these shows aren't being displayed in the upcoming episodes for my season passes. Also, these shows don't show up when I try to search by title. Anyway, I assume from the descriptions in this thread and similar ones that this info will slowly return over the course of the next day or so.

My thought is that if this same thing happens to many different users at exactly the same time, it might be useful to DirecTV to know this, and it might help them fix it (or even acknowledge it). Unfortunately, I can't pin down the problem for me this last time any more specifically than "some time around Saturday morning".

[Lori]

Exactly the same thing happened to me. I got home yesterday to find that the only channels in the guide were ppv and DTV promotional channels. I called DTV and they forced a reset, which restored FX and ESPN2. Then I rebooted the machine which restored the others. However, I still didn't have a functional "to do " list. I haven't checked this morning, though, so that might have resolved in the night.

I have recordings from Friday night through Saturday morning, too. Looks like this happened to all of us at the same time. :(

[dukefan]

Same here. It happened last weekend as well. I noticed it Sunday afternoon - so Sunday morning is probably when it happened here.

[steves]

This did not happen to me this weekend, however... when I got home from Thanksgiving, I found my circuit breaker had been popped. The only things running when I left were my computer, TiVo, alarm clock, and the porch light. I found this a little strange.

Not saying it has anything to do with TiVo, but my power was off, so "if" it happened to everyone last weekend, I missed out ;-)

[SpankWare]

By request from Blankman to comment on this issue, I have a few comments.

After reading all the posts, I can't help but make the following suggestion (based solely on suggestions for my complaints): Stop using "Channels I Receive" and "Favorites". Sounds silly right? Well, it's no more silly than telling me to use the TiVo style guide over the grid-style guide cause it's a little faster. That's not a fix, it's a workaround. So my suggestion would be, stop using the features that aren't working right for you. Man, that's annoying isn't it?

Seriously though, since I don't use favorites or anything like that I can't really say I've ever had this problem with my T60. Anybody who calls in needs to demand that a trouble ticket (of whatever kind DirecTV uses) be created for your complaint. You need to obtain a ticket number from their ticketing system that relates to that issue. You can then post that ticket number here if you wish to create a reference for subsequent callers to use. If the technician refuses to do any of the previous steps, demand to speak with his/her supervisor. Continue this practice until successful. If you reach a point where nobody will help you, demand to speak with the customer retention department as you feel that your problems are not being handled properly and you want to speak to somebody with more authority and power. Try all those things, then report back. I will look into doing the same, based on Blankman's request.

Another thing you should realize.... it's known that the people you need to be dealing with are DirecTV. While I think it's great there are people from TiVo here and willing to help, they in the end will be less likely to get the problem resolved. I realize TivoOpsMgr has apparently been somewhat helpful, but AWOL from this thread for some time. I understand why Blankman is so insistent on dealing with him, but I think it's safe to say that this avenue has been closed. You're only going to get satisfaction from DirecTV, so your efforts need to be focused there.

[stevel]

One cannot "stop using Channels I Recieve". This is the only way to let your TiVo know what channels are available for recording. The default set is always wrong, but the problem here is that something DirecTV sends out causes this list to EMPTY, making the TiVo think that none of the channels are available, and it removes all scheduled recordings from the ToDo list.

One can choose not to use Favorites, though for a long time this is what DirecTV recommended if one complained that unreceivable channels kept getting added to Channels I Receive.

I tried to get a "ticket number" from DirecTV when I called, but was told no such thing existed (to which I said to myself "nonsense!") I hate to say this, but it sure looks as if the CSRs are being encouraged to sweep this sort of complaint under the rug. After all, if it's not in the tracking system, it doesn't exist...

[SpankWare]

Originally posted by stevel
One cannot "stop using Channels I Recieve". This is the only way to let your TiVo know what channels are available for recording. The default set is always wrong, but the problem here is that something DirecTV sends out causes this list to EMPTY, making the TiVo think that none of the channels are available, and it removes all scheduled recordings from the ToDo list.

One can choose not to use Favorites, though for a long time this is what DirecTV recommended if one complained that unreceivable channels kept getting added to Channels I Receive.

I tried to get a "ticket number" from DirecTV when I called, but was told no such thing existed (to which I said to myself "nonsense!") I hate to say this, but it sure looks as if the CSRs are being encouraged to sweep this sort of complaint under the rug. After all, if it's not in the tracking system, it doesn't exist...

One can avoid making any modifications to the system using the "Channels I Receive" setup option. I know, because I've done so on my T60 perfectly for more than a year. All my latest DSR7000's haven't touched that option, and I certainly didn't do that for the GXCDBOT that I gave my parents for XMAS 2 years ago (and neither have they). One can easily use a DirecTV DVR without ever messing with this option, or Favorites. I know, because I've done it. As a result, I have never experienced any issue with lost or missing channels on any of the DirecTV DVR units I own or have given as gifts.

As for the ticket number, we all know they're going to have a ticketing system. Press the issue, ask for supervisors, managers etc. until you get satisfaction or nowhere. If the latter, then move on to customer retention.

[Sir_winealot]

Originally posted by SpankWare
One can avoid making any modifications to the system using the "Channels I Receive" setup option. I know, because I've done so on my T60 perfectly for more than a year. All my latest DSR7000's haven't touched that option, and I certainly didn't do that for the GXCDBOT that I gave my parents for XMAS 2 years ago (and neither have they). One can easily use a DirecTV DVR without ever messing with this option, or Favorites. I know, because I've done it. As a result, I have never experienced any issue with lost or missing channels on any of the DirecTV DVR units I own or have given as gifts.

As for the ticket number, we all know they're going to have a ticketing system. Press the issue, ask for supervisors, managers etc. until you get satisfaction or nowhere. If the latter, then move on to customer retention.

Even if you don't mess with "Channels You Receive" or "favorites" this 'bug' can hit you. I too, hadn't set up either (don't use WL's & have "suggestions" turned off).

What happens, is you turn on your TV, and most everything isn't available to you any longer ...my local channels? -Black screen, with a blue "Channel Not Available" banner across the bottom...HBO? Same-same.
ESPN too...

I didn't ake the time to see what channels (or how many) I still had available to me, cuz I KNEW a reboot would fix it...but there were still some channels (random) I *could* watch, ....but it seemed like 80% of my programming was "not available."

And then, of course, your Season Passes won't record.

Very annoying. But what bothers *me* the most, is hearing from DTV that the problem is "with my system," so they are currently NOT working to fix this.

How the heck do you get a problem fixed, if they deny the fact that it even exists???

[SpankWare]

Originally posted by Sir_whinealot
Even if you don't mess with "Channels You Receive" or "favorites" this 'bug' can hit you. I too, hadn't set up either (don't use WL's & have "suggestions" turned off).

.......

How the heck do you get a problem fixed, if they deny the fact that it even exists???

Ok good, some better information. I guess I'm a lucky one then in that I've never been hit by this. Surely there has to be some common thread for it to affect so many people here, we just have to determine it for ourselves.

How do you get a problem fixed when they deny it? Simple, you don't let them deny it. When it becomes more difficult for them to attempt to ignore you rather than ignore the problem, they'll start admitting there is an issue. You just have to make it happen.

[Mark Lopez]

Had it happen again. Called DirectTV this time and got the typical "We never heard of that problem". :rolleyes: As soon as they told me to reboot, I just hung up.

This is starting to happen way too frequently, the last time was just a week ago or so.

[drew2k]

I haven't experienced this yet, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've been following this thread, but wonder if you have to tell the DirecTV CSR exactly what you want them to do when you call to report the channels disappeared.

Whenever I've called in the past about a problem, I always asked them to make a notation on my account. If the problem repeated, the next time I called, I told them it happened again and they should reference the prior notation. It was happening quite often that Dolby Digital would disappear on Showtime, so I asked them to escalate the problem internally to whatever department does research and troubleshooting, and told them I'd wait on hold while they wrote up the ticket and forwarded it.

I'm thinking if you continue this procedure, at a minimum your account history will be accurate showing how many times it's happening, and if you're lucky, maybe someone with any authority at DirecTV will notice all the tickets being forwarded, notice a trend, and inform the CSR's that this is not an unheard of issue.

If nothing else, with a history of problems in your account, the CSR may actually take pity on you and offer a "credit" for your problems! :rolleyes:

[Sir_winealot]

Originally posted by SpankWare


How do you get a problem fixed when they deny it? Simple, you don't let them deny it. When it becomes more difficult for them to attempt to ignore you rather than ignore the problem, they'll start admitting there is an issue. You just have to make it happen.

I gotta tell ya SpankWare...it ain't fer lack of tryin'.:D I went around in circles w/them the other nite, and it was like like trying to catch a flea with chopstix....oh sure...Mr. Miaggi can do it, but the folks *I* spk/w at DTV CS were adamant that it was my dish alignment, MS or access card.

Short of picketing their local office, I'm open for suggestions.

Hmmm...maybe I should try email?:D:D:D

**Drew...good points! I'll try that angle if it continues ...perhaps over time, they'll even offer me a "couple replacement HDVR2's" since it only seems to be affecting Series 1 units...(altho I *love* that T-60 remote, and both my units have been upgraded w/bigger HD's) ...you never know 'till you try!

[BlankMan]

Well my T60 known as TiVo2 was missing all it's Favorite Channels when I turned on the TV this evening, this time however it did not look like any of the Channels I Receive were lost. Well, I didn't go and count them, but usually it's quite obvious.

Feeling like I wanted to kill some time tonight I decided to call DirecTV. First at bat, Aldo ID 3434 of the TiVo Specialty Group, when he came on the line I asked to confirm that he was the TiVo Specialty Group and he said he was. After explaining the on going problem to him I was asked to hold while he did some checking. When he came back he stated that there is an issue with this, that when DirecTV adds new channels, that will cause all the channels in the Favorites List to be deleted. Almost sounds like we're making progress.

He then asked that I call Sony. I said why. He said to go over the problem with them. I said what if they say there is nothing they can do about it, Aldo says call DirecTV back.

Second at bat Dan at Sony, I have the call ticket number but will not list it here. After explaining the on going problem to Dan and what Aldo told me, Dan started laughing and asked why did I call Sony. I said because DirecTV told me to jump through hoops. So, after having Dan document the call and getting the ticket number I was off to call DirecTV again. I do like the fact that Sony records their calls so that this cannot be disputed.

Third at bat, Jennifer ID 10006778. After explaining the problem to her, which took longer this time, and what Aldo told me, I was put on hold while she did some checking. When she came back, she told me to fix the problem do a Clear and Delete on the unit and that in her words "will reload the software". Well, a simple reboot will "reload" the software, so to say the least I was very skeptical of this. Not wanting to lose all my SP's and recorded programs before I watch them I pressed for a little more information.

I explained to her that two people over at TiVo have acknowledged the problem and said they were in contact with DirecTV and never did they say a Clear Delete would fix it. I asked what if it doesn't and it happens again, Jennifer said then the unit would have to be replaced. I said two people at TiVo who have reproduced the problem are saying it's a software issue and you're saying that the hardware would need to be replaced? Then I realized that I had just received DirecTV's third canned answer when they deal with DVR problems:

1.) Reboot it
2.) Call us
3.) Replace it

Not believing Jennifer in light of what E. Stephen Mack and Bill Dailey at TiVo have said so far and once again informing Jennifer of that, I asked what if I Cleared and Deleted and it happened again and I called back? She said I would then be put in touch with a Technician, I asked if I could do that right now, she asked that I hold on.

Fourth at bat Yolinda ID 5364. She said she's the supervisor of the TiVo Specialty Group, does that mean Technician? I don't know. I explained to her what Aldo told me, what Dan told me, now what Jennifer told me, and what E. Stephen Mack and Bill Dailey have said, fell on deaf ears. She did allude that there is an issue and DirecTV's current answer is to Clear and Delete. She said the Engineers "in the back" as she put it may know more, but Clear and Delete is their current fix. I said again, that TiVo is indicating that it is a software problem, she wasn't listening.

I also asked Yolinda to address what Aldo told me, she said who's Aldo. I said the first TiVo Specialist I talked to who told me that when DirecTV adds new channels, that will cause all the channels in the Favorites List to be deleted. She disavowed any knowledge of any Aldo being in the TiVo Specialty Group even after I furnished her with his ID number. That builds confidence in DirecTV's Support Organization.

I then asked Yolinda when this "issue" will be resolved, these were her exact words: "We're hoping we can get this fixed as soon as possible". Not like other companies that purposely try and take as long as they can to fix a software problem.... :rolleyes:

So, after three phone calls for a total of 65 minutes on the phone I now have a clear understanding of the problem and what DirecTV is doing to address it. :confused:

1.) Aldo says "when DirecTV adds new channels, that will cause all the channels in the Favorites List to be deleted".
2.) Dan says "Why are you calling Sony about this?"
3.) Jennifer says "Clear and Delete and if that doesn't fix it replace the unit".
4.) Yolinda says "We're hoping we can get this fixed as soon as possible".

Yep, crack Support Organization DirecTV has there, so who to believe?

But, Yolinda did indicate that on my account they have the occurrences of these losses, now the only way those could be there, especially the recent ones is through my emails that I have been sending to them.

So anyone game to test the Clear and Delete? :D

[tammyandlee]

Bump

[LazyFox]

Well just called the tech support and made the guy record the problem in my file. I told him I just want him to record my complaint and that other users on this forum had the same problem. Just call them and don't ask them for fix, just tell them to record your complaint.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by BlankMan
So anyone game to test the Clear and Delete?

Has anyone with the problem tried this? I seriously doubt it will help, but I can go ahead and try it on my one unit. It only has one SP and I have nothing recorded at this point.

[Tutman]

Last month, I did a clear and delete on one of my units - not that I was asked to or anything. The hard drive crashed, and I replaced it and copied the image from my other unit. To get the image from another unit to work in this unit, I had to do a clear and delete.

That individual unit has not experienced a problem since (3 or 4 weeks now). However, I have never had the problem on a single unit more frequent than a couple of months.

Maybe, just maybe, this will work. The answer may be a couple months from now. Since DirecTV doesn't "clear and delete" our system when they upgrade our software, but simply upgrade it with all settings left in place, maybe there is an issue with the upgrade process.

However, I'm guessing that this is just DirecTV's attempt at stalling.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Tutman
However, I'm guessing that this is just DirecTV's attempt at stalling. That was my first thought too, or they have no clue so they'll try anything, of course at the customers inconvenience though

[BrettStah]

Doing a Clear and Delete is just as bad as swapping out the DirecTivo itself, in my opinion. I guess it would save me the time it takes to upgrade the hard drive, but the time-consuming part is re-entering all of the season passes and wishlists, plus losing the existing recordings.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by BrettStah
Doing a Clear and Delete is just as bad as swapping out the DirecTivo itself, in my opinion.

I agree. My one unit has a ton of SPs and recordings. However, my other unit only has one SP right now. So I figured it's at least worth a try since it's been happening every few week lately. The bad part is that since it does happen irregularly, it could take months to find out if this fixes it. In any case, it's in the process of clearing and deleting now. We shall see.

[SpankWare]

Blankman,
Now that was a good post. Thanks for giving a very detailed transcription of your support calls. As for the answers you got, I think it clearly supports the idea that the DVR CSR's are either unaware of the issue or are intentionally dismissing it. I'm likely to go with the idea that they're only able to support you with the information they are given, and as such I would place little blame on the people who are only "doing what they are told." Those guys in the back are the people we need to talk to about this issue, the real technical folks and not the people that talk for them. For the Clear and Delete suggestion, if nobody has done it yet or those that have are not currently experiencing the issue then we need to consider this as a possible solution. It's a pain for sure, but if that's the resolution they have suggested I think it should at least be tried before it's dismissed. What answers if any about the specific issue have you received from TiVo? They say a software issue, but have more details been given? It might shed some light on the usefulness of a Clear and Delete.

I think the ideas noted above about having a note on your account each time you call with the issue (and preferably one note per unit experiencing the problem) is a great idea. But I'm certain there has to be a ticketing system, and we've got to get some real and consistent data in there on this issue. The "people above" won't be looking at notes in individual accounts, they'll be looking at the statistics on open trouble tickets, so that is the best place to attack.

[SammyTerry]

I've been watching this thread for some time now because this has happened to me. Here is my original post on the matter:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=135305

About a week after that happened, I lost my favorites again but not the channels I receive so all my SP's recorded normally.

Some time after that, for an unrelated reasons, I reset my thumbs up data and stopped recording suggestions. I have yet to have the problem happen to me again. I don't know, maybe doing that reset has something to do with it not happening to me again, as unlikely as it seems.

[BlankMan]

SpankWare I've said all along, I believe the CSR's in the trenches, the ones answering the phones truly want to help and truly try to help but are hampered from doing so by Management. I have said this in posts and in PM's to CSR's, I've also had them tell me I nailed it on the head. And I could sense it from Yolinda as soon as she got on the phone, in her mind, this is the way it is and it's not open for discussion, do what I tell you and stop wasting my time...

The problem with the Clear and Delete in my mind, besides losing all ones SP's and recorded programs is that it might mask the problem. It might be an issue that as SP's accumulate and recordings and Thumbs Up/Down data, etc. that then the problem will surface again. That could be 6 months down the road. So it's ok until then, it surfaces again and we start over with DirecTV because even though they have it documented now I'd bet you in 6 months they'd start it as a new problem. It's been going on for over a year that I'm aware of, others here might know it for longer, and they haven't correlated any of that data to this point so why would they start then?

But the fact the the TiVo Reps never offered this solution, and even though painful, if indeed it was the fix and they knew it I'm sure they would make the case do it once and it will be over, but they have not. And the fact that DirecTV will not say that this will absolutely fix the problem, the fact that they say the next step is to replace the unit, builds no confidence in them. Replace the hardware for a software problem. Not. They're guessing.

Maybe one of the TiVo Reps will comment on the Clear and Delete, nobody knows the software better then them, so they should be able to tell if somebody's blowin' smoke, and hopefully if so their conscience will help them from putting their customers through needless pain.

Clear and Delete coming from DirecTV who's infamous fix for any problem has been "Reboot it" does not carry a lot of weight in my book, unfortunately for them they blew their creditability long ago.

TiVoOpsMgr told me that TiVo was able to reproduce the problem and contacted DirecTV with that information. TiVoBill said in a post vaguely because he'd get in trouble if he didn't do it that way, that it has to do with AGP data sent when DirecTV is adding new channels. This is what Aldo said also, so I tend to lean towards that explanation and believe it.

Clear and Delete does not load any new software or change the code in any way or patch it, so if the DirecTV add channels process is what is causing this problem, how could Clear and Delete fix the problem? The same code is executing after the Clear and Delete, DirecTV is doing the same add channel process, so nothing changes. IMHO

[SpankWare]

I'd love to hear from TivoOpsMgr exactly what this "software fix" would do to correct the issue, as that should tell us exactly what the problem is. If Clear and Delete fixes, even if temporarily, the issue then I can't help but wonder if there's some data being written to the system and the space available for this data is running out, causing it to mess up. Clear and Delete would clear out any data that the system is using so this might make sense. That's the only thing I can think of. Either there's some data being written wrong, which corrupts over time or there's a limited amount of allocated space for this data and causing it to fill up is causing a problem. Without knowing exactly what TiVo determined the problem to be and what they would have done to fix it, we'll never know. As I don't have this problem, I'm clearly more interested in what the issue is rather than the fix for it. Being a long time Linux user and developer, I just want to get my hands in here and start poking around. This is just like my "slow guide" issue.... it's gotta be something really simple that just needs to get done.

While I don't fully support the idea of annoying people, I think we need to find some way to get some information..... on or off the record from the guys who know the system to tell us what is causing this and why. Then we can work hard on pressing to get it fixed.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by BlankMan
The problem with the Clear and Delete in my mind, besides losing all ones SP's and recorded programs is that it might mask the problem. It might be an issue that as SP's accumulate and recordings and Thumbs Up/Down data, etc. that then the problem will surface again.

I don't think SPs etc. have anything to do with the problem. My one TiVo that does it has never had more than one SP (actually not an SP but a record by time), no more than 2 or 3 recordings at any given time, suggestions are off and I don't use thumbs. Oh, it's also an un-hacked unit.

[BlankMan]

I don't think we're going to get any more out of TiVo Reps, I've been informed that DirecTV has asked them to drop it, do not comment on it any more. This is exactly why I have it in for DirecTV so much, I'm not normally that way, but their constant stonewalling instead of just being open. This is unlike me too but I hope Murdock cleans house. I've been through acquisitions on both sides and know the results, I've never wished this on anyone before but if the Management types that condone and foster this stonewalling and lack of being up front and honest with their customers lost their jobs I would have no sympathy. Find another job and go screw up that company that I hopefully don't have to deal with. Selfish I know...

But on another note: I asked yesterday if this thread could be sticky'd until it's resolved and have not gotten a response nor is it sticky'd. I guess a thread covering an on going problem with a DirecTV Receiver with TiVo in the DirecTV Receiver with TiVo Forum is not as important as Goin' to Loss Wages...

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Mark Lopez
I don't think SPs etc. have anything to do with the problem. My one TiVo that does it has never had more than one SP (actually not an SP but a record by time), no more than 2 or 3 recordings at any given time, suggestions are off and I don't use thumbs. Oh, it's also an un-hacked unit. I agree, I'm just trying to keep somewhat of an open mind and entertain all possibilities.

[SpankWare]

Originally posted by BlankMan
I don't think we're going to get any more out of TiVo Reps, I've been informed that DirecTV has asked them to drop it, do not comment on it any more.


Was this an actual statement, or something that was inferred? If it's an actual statement as in "Yes, DirecTV acknowledged this but told us we can't talk about it anymore" then I'm going to jump on the Blankman bandwagon. Not necessarily against Customer Support, but against the organization itself. This type of thing just will not do. See, it's something like this that's going to force me to crack the case on a unit or two and start poking around. While I'm not currently experiencing the problem, there's clearly a real problem and no real logical reason why it isn't being fixed, at least that we're being told.

Time to start pulling favors. Since we can't get it out of TivoOpsMgr, we need to start finding some other contacts and kind souls inside TiVo or DirecTV who can shed some light on what's going on.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by SpankWare
Was this an actual statement, or something that was inferred? If it's an actual statement as in "Yes, DirecTV acknowledged this but told us we can't talk about it anymore" then I'm going to jump on the Blankman bandwagon. Whoa! Was I wrong! I remember saying you would never change my mind and I would never change yours! But something is happening! It's.... It's.... a Miracle! :D

[Mark Lopez]

Ok, I have a conspiracy theory! After I did the clear and delete, it went through the guided setup. When I got to the dialing section, I didn't recall my DirecTiVo ever looking for a local number (as did the SA units) when I first set it up. I then looked at the dialing options on my other unit that has this problem and it's set to use the toll-free number. So my conspiracy theory is that this is being done on purpose to get people to do a clear and delete so you can no longer use the toll-free number. :D But out of curiosity, are those who are having this problem using the toll-free or local dial-in number?

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Mark Lopez
But out of curiosity, are those who are having this problem using the toll-free or local dial-in number? DSL.

<added>

But I should add, before DSL I always used local numbers.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by BlankMan
DSL.

<added>

But I should add, before DSL I always used local numbers.

Oh well, so much for that theory.:)

[tgr131]

I've posted a short description of the problem and a link to this thread over in dbs forums. I know occasionally D* employees read that board, and perhaps it will catch the attention of someone who can help. Or perhaps not.

[Paul_D]

Well, after it hit my DSR6000 two weeks ago, it got my T-60 this past weekend.

I forget what channel I was watching last night, but there was Tanya Memme singing the praises of their customer service department and the JD Powers award. Talk about not believing the message but liking the message deliverer.. :p

[lander215]

My DSR-6000 that I moved into my kids room has done this twice in the past two months (after it's software was upgraded by DirecTV). Comes up with the same message as the OP, but it loses it's locals as well, so I have to reset the unit to get the channels back.

Hasn't happened with the HDVR2 as of yet.

Out of curiousity, how does one do a Clear and Delete? The kids don't have any SP's or anything else really, just the basic kids channels (Disney, Toon, etc). They have some stuff recorded, but they won't miss it, so it's worth me trying.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by lander215

Out of curiousity, how does one do a Clear and Delete?

It's under 'Messages and Setup' - 'Restart or Reset System'

Be advised that after it reboots, it will say "This will take an hour" But in fact it will probably take many hours to complete, so be patient.

[Teran]

I always treat unresolved issues like this as an open trouble ticket until it is resolved to my satisfaction, whether the company I am dealing with has a ticket system or not. I call them at least daily until the issue is resolved. I always get the name, ID, and direct dial number of the person I am talking to, if available. I take detailed notes. If told that my call might be recorded for "quality assurance purposes" then I record the call myself. If I am talking to a different CSR than the one I last talked to I play back the recording of the previous call(s). If I ask for a supervisor and one isn't available then I tell them I'll hold. When told they can't keep me on the line that long, I say "fine, I'll call back every 5 minutes until a supervisor becomes available". Next, a company's policy does not equate to terms of the contract or service agreement. They have their policies and I have mine. I care what their policies as much as they care what mine are.

Pain in the ass, aren't I? Sorry, but I picked it up dealing with telcos over the years.

[BlankMan]

Teran wanna start calling DirecTV on our behalf? :D

I've been doing something similar via email every time this happens to me I add it to the list of occurrences and forward it to them again. If I don't hear from them in a week I forward it again and ask for status. Never get any though. For this I was chastised in another thread.

[dukefan]

Well, the night before last, I plodded through the customer reps and transferred to a Tivo specialist, and got the standard "never heard of it" chant. I asked to speak to a manager and did get to one, named Tina. Tina listened, and updated my file, promising to pass it on and have a Tivo manager get back to me. I figured it was the end of the line again.

Well, last night, Janet, Manager of Special Projects in the Tivo group actually called me back last night around 8:30est. She claimed that almost everyone in the Tivo group now knows about the problem because they've had "hundreds of calls in the last few hours". They are aware of the problem and are looking for a solution.

Do I believe her? Not really. I thought I'd pass it on though.

[Tutman]

Either we are getting through to people needing to call in the problem, or you should get your boots on. I also couldn't stand seeing this thread getting down to the second page. Bump.

[tammyandlee]

Bump just in case it does

[tammyandlee]

Lets keep this topic going or we will come home to no Tivo recordings one day again.

[stevel]

Please, enough with the bumps. Only reply if you have something significant to contribute. (I have subscribed to this topic and keep getting emails for all the "bumps".)

[Mark Lopez]

No, stevel not a bump, but maybe still some useless info. :)

My 2nd DirecTivo that does this, did it again. The one that I did the clear and delete is ok. Now that doesn't prove anything and I'm in no way ready to proclaim it's the cure, but typically the one I did the clear and delete on does it more frequently than the 2nd one. And as I recall, almost always within a few days of the 2nd unit. So we shall wait and see.

[BlankMan]

Mark, maybe if the the unit you did the Clear and Delete on doesn't act up for 2-3 months... Since I started this thread I've recorded the dates of each occurrence and more then once I've gone ~7 weeks in between it happening.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by BlankMan
Mark, maybe if the the unit you did the Clear and Delete on doesn't act up for 2-3 months...

Yeah, thats the problem. This is a fairly intermittent problem (at least for me) and there is no easy way to determine if this did anything to fix it. It could wait 4 months before acting up again. However it does happen more frequent than it used to. So if it does go a few months, than I might be willing to think it at least helped. Maybe by then I'll have my recordings on the other unit whittled down to a point of trying it on that one.

Of course you never know, DirectTV/Tivo might decide to fix it before then. Yeah right.

[Tutman]

Happened again to one of my receivers. This receiver had the problem last on 11/19. My other receiver I did a Clear and Delete a few weeks ago, and so far, so good.

Each time this happens, I take notes of the state of the system. I take better notes each time.

This time, I didn't lose local channels. My Favorites list was completely blank. All but a handful of channels were checked in "Channels you receive". I could still tune to local channels. I looked in my ToDo list, and ALL of my season passes for local channels (Friends, 24, etc) had none of the episodes scheduled. I could see the 2 upcoming episodes, but both said that they wouldn't be recorded.

I rebooted, and when it came back up, the season passes still didn't have any episodes to record. I'll keep checking for the next couple of days to see if they go back to scheduled.

I called DirecTV, asked the "Entertainment Consultant" to send me to the "DVR Specialists", and she asked if it was a "TIVO" issue. I said yes, and she transferred me right away. I spoke to Fred in the DVR Specialists group. He hadn't heard of the problem, and I quickly convinced him that it should be a known issue. He put me on hold to check, and he came back and said that it was a known issue with Series 1 receivers. He said that they didn't have any additional information. I asked specifically for a workaround, and he said that he was told that there weren't any. I asked specifically if a "Clear and Reset" was suggested, and he said not that he was told. I asked if a trouble ticket would be generated, and he said one would. I asked for a ticket number, but was told that he couldn't get me one because his supervisor would be the one to log the call. I asked for him to make a note on my account, and asked if my previous call was logged. He said that it was, and was able to tell me the date, and read me the note. He said that no information on the issue was available.

HOW MUCH LONGER?

I'm going to start keeping track of exactly which channels are checked, and which channels are not checked after it happens. I still think it has to do with DirecTV adding or deleting channels from the lineup. Maybe it also has to do with us unchecking channels in "Channels you receive" prior to DirecTV sending down a new lineup.

Since I don't use TIVO Suggestions, I'm going to try with this receiver to leave "Channels you receive" alone. I'll go ahead and setup Favorites, since I cannot live without that.

[RealDeal]

I've had a Sony SAT-T60 for over 3 years and never had this issue until just recently. I returned home from a vacation and all of my favorites had been lost. I hope they fix this soon.

David

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by Tutman
Maybe it also has to do with us unchecking channels in "Channels you receive" prior to DirecTV sending down a new lineup.



Not sure if this is what you mean, but before the last time it happened, I left all of the 'channels you receive' checked and only selected the ones I watch in 'favorites'. It didn't stop it from happening.

[Tutman]

Originally posted by Mark Lopez
Not sure if this is what you mean, but before the last time it happened, I left all of the 'channels you receive' checked and only selected the ones I watch in 'favorites'. It didn't stop it from happening. Thanks Mark. This is exactly what I meant. I don't see any reason for me to remove channels though, and if I lose my settings every couple of weeks now, it will be less for me to do.

[Mark Lopez]

Clear and delete did NOT fix it!

I did a clear and delete everything on my one unit on Dec 2nd and it lost it all again today (or sometime since Sat evening). FWIW, after the clear and delete, I did not set up any SPs and suggestions was turned off. This unit was used minimally before the clear and delete, but I think it's safe to say that recordings have nothing to do with it. Also blows my conspiracy theory about the 800 number. :)

So if any DirecTV bozo tells you to do it, just tell them that you already have or (if you don't want to lie) that you know someone who did it and it didn't fix it.

[BrettStah]

I, for one, and glad that's not a fix for the problem. Thanks for testing it!

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by BrettStah
I, for one, and glad that's not a fix for the problem. Thanks for testing it!

While I can see that it would be a royal PITA to have to do it on a heavily loaded machine, I fear that DirecTV may never do anything about it. If it only happened every few months (as it used to), I would not be happy, but could live with it. However, it is happening more and more frequently. Less than 6 days this time.

[kiljoy]

Happened to me last night on T60 number one. Didn't see this thread when I posted here. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147161)

I called, talked to Jenny (DVR Specialist). I didn't know this was a known issue at the time, but she didn't mention it was. VERY disconcerting after three years of perfect service. Both my T60s were upgraded to 3.1.0b at the time, so I thought that might've been the issue. I see that was wrong. Channels I Receive was reset on BOTH Tivos, but only T60 #1 lost all channels the next day.

Is there a fix in the works?

Edit: After I made this post, I called D back and asked for a note to be made on my account regarding this known issue with Series 1 units. If it happens again, I will begin the process of pressing the issue.

Tony

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Mark Lopez
Clear and delete did NOT fix it!
Cool. I highly doubted it would, glad we didn't have to wait months to find out, and thanks for testing Mark. DirecTV's blowin' smoke again.... Surprise surprise....

[mjones]

I've had my unmodified DSR6000 since October 2000 and I've never experienced any of the myriad of issues with regards to Channels I Receive...until last night.

I had some friends over to watch Pirates of the Carribean. At 7pm everything was fine. After watching the movie we decided to watch Cold Case at about 9:30ish.

I switched over to the TiVo and it wasn't in Now Playing. I looked at the Recording History and found the message that the episode wasn't recorded because it was no longer in the guide. I went to check the guide and that's when I got the message that my favorites hadn't been setup. I flipped guide to Channels I Receive and checked KCBS for info on Cold Case...the info was properly in the guide. I then reset my favorites list.

FYI, the Record light was definately on during the proper timeslot and I don't have suggestions turned on.

When I went to fix my favorites list I took a peek at the Channels I Receive list...every channel was checked.

My TiVo hasn't phoned home in about 3 months, so I know that I do not have the b version of the software.

Mike

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by mjones
My TiVo hasn't phoned home in about 3 months, so I know that I do not have the b version of the software.


Mine did it before the b update too. Not sure if the update is causing it to happen more frequently or if it's something different DirecTV is doing.

Be sure to call them and complain. They need to hear this from everyone affected.

[lmtuxinc]

This happened to my T-60 also. I lost every thing but the nasa channel and the farm channel, and I called directv and they had me reboot the tivo and redo all my lists. I did have to wait 4 hours before my local chanels came back though.

[dukefan]

Just happened to my other DSR6000. This sucks.

When I called to scream and yell, at least my account had been noted from last week. The interesting thing is that in the ticket, there is apparently a "heat ticket" now. I asked what that meant. The CR told me that it meant that it was a known issue that no known troubleshooting could fix and it had been escalated to management. In other words, we're screwed.

[lander215]

Originally posted by dukefan
... escalated to management. In other words, we're screwed.

;) That's so true. Now that management is involved, we'll never get it fixed!

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by lander215
;) That's so true. Now that management is involved, we'll never get it fixed! LOL Yeah really.

I did my weekly email to DirecTV Monday forwarding previous messages that list the date of each occurrence I have had and asking once again for a status. Just being a thorn, they never reply, except to say call them. This time I told them I had called last week and if they like I would send them the transcript of those three calls that took 65 minutes.

[BlankMan]

Stickied! Thank you very much!

[Dirac]

Philips' turn this week (the "main TiVo"). Happened while I was on a business trip and my wife was pretty ticked. Now SHE's getting good at setting the channels.

[Smiles]

Thanks for the sticky. It happened again to my Hughes series 1 yesterday. :(

[BlankMan]

I sent this email to DirecTV yesterday with my usual forwarded list of my occurrences:

You might want to have your management look at this thread on the
TiVoCommunity Forum. It is getting a lot of attention there. And anyone
that is doing research on whether or not to get a DirecTV DVR will know
that this problem is occurring and affecting the DirecTV DVR's ability to
to record programs. They will also know that DirecTV is being silent on
the problem, i.e. ignoring it, so they will realize that DirecTV Support
is of no help.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115194It links this thread.

[Smurfslayer]

I'm not a Tivo guru, but I've been w/ dtv for a while now, and had tivo for a year now. I just installed a 2nd Tivo.

Primary SAT T60, new one a phillips dsr7k.
Was watching a show from the now playing list. Was recording 2 shows at once, and one of them was what I was watching - battlestar galactica.
~10:30 EST 12/9, a message came up from Tivo asking me was I done with this show - delete or don't delete. I chose don' t delete...

Both recordings stopped, and the guide was saying there were no channels in this display (favorites). I couldn't flip up or down channels. I changed to channels I receive, and could see TV, but locals were gone. After about 5 minutes, I realized I had to try a reset - powered down, unplugged. plugged back in, unit powered up, then immediately shut down. I turned it on by remote & it went through the tivo setup.

After setup I got TV back but favorites was still gone. I manually restarted the recording and redid the favs the next day.

1st time this has happened to me (DC Metro / NoVA ) ...

[BrettStah]

Smurfslayer, call DirecTV please... let's see if a critical mass of calls on this can get it resolved ASAP.

[Rcrew]

... just finished reading through 12 pages...

It looks like this is what hit my unmodified Hughs Series 1 last night. Well, I noticed the problem last night, it's the back room DTiVo.

Local Channels were gone, Channels I receive started at 100. I thought initially they were removed from Channels I receive because they were lost, BUT there were many, many channels I do not receive added to the list of channels I receive, so the actual problem seems larger than just losing local channels. Of course my To Do list was worthless.

I went to standby, and pulled the plug. When the re-boot was done, my Local Channels were back, but the Channels I receive needs to be corrected. I saw this thread last night, but didn't have time to go through 12 pages, and my quick scan didn't look like my problem was the same. Now it appears it is.

However, I feel my observations of my problems aren't precise enough to make a clear complaint call. I'm going to clean up channels I receive tonight, and wait to see what happens next.

My other DTiVo, also series 1, but modified with extra disk, has not yet had the problem.

[tammyandlee]

Happend to me again last night too. Hughes series 1 unmodified.

[BlankMan]

I got this response from yesterday's email to DirecTV, just maybe they're starting to take this seriously.

Dear <BlankMan>:

Thank you for your message. I have forwarded your message to the
appropriate department for further review. We appreciate your patience
while we research this further.

Sincerely,

Mohammad
DIRECTV Customer ServiceMaybe constantly emailing them is starting work, if you don't mind doing it for months....

[austinsho]

And this has not happened so far to any series 2 units?

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by austinsho
And this has not happened so far to any series 2 units? Second Generation units you mean? :D No one has reported it yet and it hasn't happened to my HDVR2/3.

[austinsho]

Right, that was what I was trying to say, the HDVR2 and its successors... :D

[Paul_D]

Count me for another hit on my T-60 yesterday. It was tolerable when it was once every few months, but now every week or so per unit? Gack.

[blips]

Well this happened to "my wife's" Tivo last week. I shrugged it off until my brother yesterday told me it happened to him. Then I thought I better check the board. Both my wife's and my brother's Tivos are unmodified DSR6000's. I will now watch out for more details when it happens again. (Knock on wood) It has not happened to my heavily modified DSR6000.

[FatherTed]

It's happened four times total to my T60 and twice in the last 10 days. All starting after the receiver took the new software version.

[stevel]

I first started seeing this in May or June, long before the software update. But it is certainly more frequent now.

[stale]

It seems that this problem is certainly happening to some people more often than others. I wonder if its related to the locales users are in, or the packages user's subscribe to. I haven't really noticed anyone else from the San Diego area experiencing this problem a lot. Could it be due to new local channels being added?

I also only subscribe to the basic DTV package and the local package, could it happen more frequently to users with the premium packages? (doubtful but ironic).

[ckilkus]

This must be the longest thread ever! It's a wonder that DirecTV doesn't do anything about it......

It has happened to me too, once on December 4th and today December 13th. I only lose my favorite channel list, and not my "all" or "receive" lists, and I don't lose any programming. But it's still annoying since I only really use my favorites channel list when I watch tv. And especially annoying if it's going to be a weekly occurance!

I have a series 1 Phillips DSR600R. Is the only known "fix" to upgrade to a Series 2 or 3 unit?

[RonP]

All those who are new to this thread and have recently experienced this problem, please call DirecTV to report it: 1-800-531-5000. If you get an inexperienced tech demand to talk to someone higher up. Make sure they log the problem. It's the only chance we have of getting this fixed!