4 Digit Sky radio channels - Discussion

[steveroe]

I'm probably being very dense here, but I can't seem to find Gary's instructions on running Guided Set-Up to support a dual SKy TV and Radio platform following the Sky EPG changes at the end of February. I've tried searching, but I guess I'm doing something a bit stupid.

Can anyone point me to them please.

Thanks

John.

Here you are John http://www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/skyradio.htm

[Jon S]

Many thanks for that Steve. Exactly what I was after.

[aerialplug]

So suddenly tens of thousands of people are going to lose radio services? Nice way for TiVo to lose more people then.

I've now met three people whose main reason for leaving TiVo was because the radio recording disappeared from Sky and they were unaware that there was a fix for this problem.

I guess three isn't huge in the grand scheme of things, but for the three I've met there are at least that many more, I'm sure.

[frogster]

Was there ever a Tivo service message about it? I don't remember seeing one.

Most of the service messages I get relate to channels that I can't receive. It would be nice for the function to be applied to something useful.

[Jon S]

I can't seem to get the Radio option to work. Can anybody see where I'm going wrong.

Everything seems to be set-up; I can see Radio 1 on 101 (cab) for example in my listings. The problem is that I can't change channels.

The TV side is fine. The channels change on my Sky box (I use an RF2 link). Where it all goes wrong is when trying to set the IR codes for radio. I don't get the chance because the screen immediately states no signal received from the set-top box. This is the error you normally get if your Sky box is switched-off at this point.

I assume the problem is the RF connection, but I can't see whats wrong. I've tried a cable in both the RF1 and RF2 on the Sky Digital; with and without the RF2 Link installed. It makies no difference.

A few things that may or may not be relevant.

1. I installed a new hardrive. It had TiVo pre-installed, but no programs/season passes etc.

2. The television I've connected to has no scart so I use RF for the picture.

Any ideas where my problem is ?

[frogster]

I've tried a cable in both the RF1 and RF2 on the Sky Digital; with and without the RF2 Link installed.If you have turned on the RF2 control voltage in the hidden digibox setup menu then you MUST NOT connect the RF2 output directly to any device (TV, Tivo). Either use the RF1 socket (which never carries a control voltage and so is always the one to use) or always have your link device (TVLink - both parts, Sky-Eye, RF2Link) installed.

As for your particular problem: can your Tivo see the regular RF channels?

[Jon S]

I can't see terretrial via TiVo at the moment. I assume thats because I have swapped the aerial version for Sky Radio.

However, I think you may have pointed me to the problem. I believe in Guided Set-Up I had to select the RF Output of Sky Digital. I just selected 60, but in retrospect i suspect this was both wrong in important.

As there an easy way to find out the RF channel output from Sky? I can't use the TV (its old hence no scart). Having found the correct channel number can I set-it without re-running Guided Set-Up?

I'm only using TiVo as a back-up because Sky+ is so unpredictable. New Sky HD users are in for nasty shocks in the future. Wait for those failed recordings for no reason (well you'll get a reason code, but they mean nothing at Sky CS) and the full wipe-out of all your recordings. These can happen on TiVo ofcourse, but Sky seem to treat it as a feature; Sky CS seem overly familiar with the "System Fault" message and the process to run to re-format your buggered drive !!!

[frogster]

I can't see terretrial via TiVo at the moment. I assume thats because I have swapped the aerial version for Sky Radio.This shouldn't make any difference.

However, I think you may have pointed me to the problem. I believe in Guided Set-Up I had to select the RF Output of Sky Digital. I just selected 60, but in retrospect i suspect this was both wrong in important. Guided setup asks you this? I'm sure it didn't ask me.


As there an easy way to find out the RF channel output from Sky? On the digibox: services 4 0 1 select. Then check the RF settings. You must have done this when you installed the RFLink.


I'm only using TiVo as a back-up because Sky+ is so unpredictable. I understand.

[Blitzer]

Since about a week ago my TiVo is hardly recording anything properly. When it tries to change the channel it seems to insert an extra zero so instead of BBC1 (101) I get Radio 1 (0101). Manual channel change still works fine. Everythinf was ok for about three years until last week.

I haven't done the radio hack as I'm not bothered about recording radio shows.

Any ideas?

[Pete77]

I haven't done the radio hack as I'm not bothered about recording radio shows.

Any ideas?

Sounds like some weird kind of database corruption.

Firstly have you tried rebooting the Tivo with firstly a power off cold reboot (using the System Reset menu and three Thumbs Down to confirm then pulling the plug at the Powering Up screen and then waiting a couple of minutes before plugging it in again) then a warm reboot not pulling the plug at the Powering Up screen.

If the problem still persists then try rerunning Guided Setup selecting Aerial as a source (unless your source is Aerial in which case select Digital Satellite) and then going through the whole process and waiting for the database to finish rebuilding. Then rerun Guided Setup again (after a couple more reboots too before doing so) going back to your original source such as Digital Satellite.

Hopefully that will do the trick.

[dvdfever]

If you have turned on the RF2 control voltage in the hidden digibox setup menu then you MUST NOT connect the RF2 output directly to any device (TV, Tivo). Either use the RF1 socket (which never carries a control voltage and so is always the one to use) or always have your link device (TVLink - both parts, Sky-Eye, RF2Link) installed.

I don't quite understand this. Following the instructions and having a dual Sky TV and digital cable setup on the TiVo (the latter instead of RF aerial, so I can get the radio channels), I thought the whole point of turning on the RF2 power was to get the radio channels via RF? (I've yet to apply the bash script to get the radio via SCART but am wondering if this is causing a problem first)

As things stand, when I change up from 101 for example, it goes to 101 (cab) and adds a zero so the Sky box is changed to 0101 for Radio 1, but the TiVo just says "The recorder cannot display live TV", and for a few days since I did this guided setup change the TiVo has been telling me, after connecting to get the listings, "Could not find your lineup!"

I thought I'd followed the instructions correctly, but can someone please tell me where I've gone wrong. Ta.

[Pete77]

I thought I'd followed the instructions correctly, but can someone please tell me where I've gone wrong. Ta.

The point of turning on the RF power is to send the program you are playing on the Sky box outwards directly via RF2 to be received on say another television a considerable distance away.

Your Sky box should go from RF1 to RFIn on the Tivo while the cable box should go from the Cable outbound Scart to the Tivo Aux Scart. Presumably in this situation you aren't using RF2?

[mrtickle]

The point of turning on the RF power is to send the program you are playing on the Sky box outwards directly via RF2 to be received on say another television a considerable distance away.


That is dangerously misleading advice. The RF2 power is solely to power a TV link device at the other end to control a Digibox so that you can change channels and watch programmes from the 2nd location. It's nothing to do with how far away the TV link is, and should never ever be turned on unless you have something plugged into RF2 which needs to be powered (eg a TV link). If you turn on the voltage and connect RF2 to a TV's aerial socket you could seriously damage the TV.

[Pete77]

That is dangerously misleading advice. The RF2 power is solely to power a TV link device at the other end to control a Digibox so that you can change channels and watch programmes from the 2nd location. It's nothing to do with how far away the TV link is, and should never ever be turned on unless you have something plugged into RF2 which needs to be powered (eg a TV link). If you turn on the voltage and connect RF2 to a TV's aerial socket you could seriously damage the TV.

Thanks for the correction.:o

[mrtickle]

No worries. Frogster's warning is very important, hence the "MUST NOT"! :)

[dvdfever]

I've just double-checked and ensured that RF1 is now plugged into the TiVo's RF-input but how do I 'see' the channels?

Going to "101 (cab)" for example just gives me the same problem mentioned in message 261. Ta.

[Pete77]

I've just double-checked and ensured that RF1 is now plugged into the TiVo's RF-input but how do I 'see' the channels?

Going to "101 (cab)" for example just gives me the same problem mentioned in message 261. Ta.

Going to 101 from Live Tv should take you to 101 (Sky) and 101 (cable) alternately using the remote each time 101 is entered. The Tivo switches the source used between Sky on the Scart socket and the Virgin box using RF each time.

When carrying out a scheduled recording on 101 cable the Tivo simply switches to using Virgin on RF as the input signal and then sends the 101 RF code appropriate for that channel platform.

[dvdfever]

I don't understand why it's not working for me, but I'll try a guided setup again later in case I went wrong somewhere as I don't think I was getting exactly what I was expecting to see when following the instructions on garysergeant's website.

[dvdfever]

Just realised what the problem is - I'm a bit thick :)

When it started asking what RF frequency the Sky box was on, I got mixed up with the RF that the TiVo's set to and wondered why I had a blank screen.

Now I appreciate how my Mum gets confused when I tell her she needs to record Sky on her video by going to AV2. I mean AV2 on the video but she sometimes thinks AV2 on the TV, which is where the DVD player's connected :)

(Edit: It's still giving me a blank screen when I go to, for example, 101 for Radio 1, even though it said 'Input Signal ok' for the RF this time round doing a guided setup. Help!)

[swarrans]

Since about a week ago my TiVo is hardly recording anything properly. When it tries to change the channel it seems to insert an extra zero so instead of BBC1 (101) I get Radio 1 (0101). Manual channel change still works fine. Everythinf was ok for about three years until last week.

I haven't done the radio hack as I'm not bothered about recording radio shows.

Any ideas?

I've been experiencing a similar thing recently - having never had any failed recordings in years of use I've recently had loads and it looks like it's been caused by the odd zero being sent causing it to try and change Sky to a radio station. I use a direct serial connection from RF2 to the Tivo, hence the previous reliability I think.
As I never use the 4 digit radio facility, is it possible to "run it off" in a Sky menu somewhere so that even an accidental leading zero won't bring up the 4 digits?

Simon

[dvdfever]

I've been experiencing a similar thing recently - having never had any failed recordings in years of use I've recently had loads and it looks like it's been caused by the odd zero being sent causing it to try and change Sky to a radio station. I use a direct serial connection from RF2 to the Tivo, hence the previous reliability I think.
As I never use the 4 digit radio facility, is it possible to "run it off" in a Sky menu somewhere so that even an accidental leading zero won't bring up the 4 digits?

Simon

For some reason my problem is now solved because it has decided to behave so I can select radio channels like TV ones, and it inserts the zero, but I instructed it to do so in the digital cable setup. It sounds like you've got this extra zero happening in the digital satellite setup as well.