Is there a way to speak to someone at Tivo that has a clue?

[marcinraleigh]

I have run every test I can think of and it's looking like I must have a bad Tivo unit. I can watch basic cable through my Tivo just fine, but I can never get rid of that blue box, "searching for basic cable" - and when I run the video setup steps, the basic cable is a black screen.

I spoke to a girl today who told me this was because they had not charged my credit card yet for the service. I called back and spoke to another guy who said that was the dumbest thing he'd heard and said my tivo unit must just be bad.

I have---

1. ran a cable feed directly to the TV to make sure the signal was good. It was.
2. Ran cable through the splitter then directly to the TV to make sure the splitter was not bad. It's not.
3. Totally by passed the cable box and run the cable directly to the Tivo. The signal comes through fine but again - the video test fails and the blue screen "searching for basic cable signal" will not go away.

If I can watch TV through the Tivo, using the tivo as the converter, TV on chanel 3, no cable box hooked up at all, it tells me that the Tivo is handling the cable signal just fine. But still it thinks it's not.

Here's the super kicker... Since I bought the xtended service plan from Best Buy for an added $29 - they will not just swap out the Tivo for a new one. They must send it back to tivo to try and repair it. Had I not bought the service plan they could just swap it for a new one since I just bought it yesterday.

Bottom line is whether the thing is broken or not, I am clearly getting advice from people that don't have the slightest idea of what they are talking about. How can I get some truly knowledgable advice about this thing?

Or should I just take it all back and issue a chargeback on my ammex for it all and go with Time Warner's DVR?

How pathetic.

[funtoupgrade]

Have you tried running a new guided setup? What model TiVo? Be sure when you get to the screen that looks for the correct video it says RF channel 3 - if not hit the up or down arrow on the remote until it does. I presume you have the switch on the back (if any) set to channel 3 and not 4.

The RF passes through your TiVo to the TV whether your unit is bad or not so it is wrong to conclude that the TiVO is receiving the signal properly.

When you talk with somebody at TiVo and they cannot seem to help ask for a supervisor. They are generally much better at helping whatever the problem.

[bpurcell]

3. Totally by passed the cable box and run the cable directly to the Tivo. The signal comes through fine but again - the video test fails and the blue screen "searching for basic cable signal" will not go away.

If you are just getting basic cable, why do you have a cable box? Maybe some areas are still working the old way, but if you have a cable box, wouldn't that mean you have digital cable? It might help us if you describe exactly what your setup looks like.

For instance, wall cable -> tivo box -> splitter -> 1. DVD player, 2. slingbox, with IR back to Tivo -> 1. TV (this is my setup)

[omni555]

Marcinraleigh, something you said really makes me cringe - the part about having bought the extended service plan excluding you from being able to swap out your box for a new one. That just seems WRONG!

I know this is probably another topic altogether, but there are a LOT of "deals" like that, and people need to have it explained to them just what they are getting into!

A few years ago, I purchased some rather expensive electronics from Circuit City and was offered an "extended warranty" plan. I asked a lot of questions about it, and the more I asked the less attractive the plan started to look! It was similar to what you said - I was finally told by the exasperated salesman that HE wouldn't get the warranty himself! The manufacturer's warranty was actually BETTER, and the two would overlap in a lot of areas! And there were actually some DISADVANTAGES to having the store's "extended" warranty!!!

It just isn't true anymore that "you get what you pay for"!!! :cool:

[marcinraleigh]

OK - I took your advice and called Tivo support back and asked to speak with a true technical person. The guy was very nice and while he did not directly help me solve the problem - something he had me check gave me an idea and I believe I have the darn thing fixed.

But first to answer bpurcell's question - I don't just have basic cable. I have the dual tuner model and basic cable runs through both units while the cable box is still required to get channels 100 and up.

Maybe this is purely a fluke, but here's how I fixed it...

Channel 0 - the TV guide station - was apparently thowing off Tivo somehow. I noticed this when scrolling through channels via the tivo that everytime I hit channel 0 the screen went blue and told me it had lost my basic cable feed.

So - all I did was go in and change channel 0 to be handled by the cable box, just like a premium channel and not by tivo as a basic cable channel. Oddly enough this fixed my problem!

I've run several tests, did some dual channel recording, etc. etc. and it seems to be working finally.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and input. :up:

[bpurcell]

My cable doesn't have channel 0 as an option. When I go to 0, I get the blue screen just as you, but I don't lose cable for the other channels afterwards.

BTW, how did you setup the channel guide, since you do have digital cable? I didn't know that if you had digital cable, you can still get the regular cable without a box.

[marcinraleigh]

Yeah - as is my understanding at least - even with digital cable the lower channels are still a basic analog feed. It's only 100 and up that require a digital converter.

That channel 0 - a channel I never ever used anyhow, is now just handled by the cable box and not the tivo - just like an hbo channel or something. I still have the tivo tv guide feature, plus I have the time warner cable tv guide menu, so that channel 0 is basically a 3rd tv guide and not needed.

[paladin732]

why not just tell BB you want to return the unit? you should have atleast 14 days to do that, if they dont let you return/rebuy throw a big fit :)

[marcinraleigh]

paladin - had I not finally got it working that is precisely what I had planned on doing. I've been working with computers and telecom stuff for nearly 20 years now and just had a feeling it was not a hardware issue.

[krstone]

I know this is probably another topic altogether, but there are a LOT of "deals" like that, and people need to have it explained to them just what they are getting into!

A few years ago, I purchased some rather expensive electronics from Circuit City and was offered an "extended warranty" plan. I asked a lot of questions about it, and the more I asked the less attractive the plan started to look! It was similar to what you said - I was finally told by the exasperated salesman that HE wouldn't get the warranty himself! The manufacturer's warranty was actually BETTER, and the two would overlap in a lot of areas! And there were actually some DISADVANTAGES to having the store's "extended" warranty!!!


Stores such as CC make a significant portion of their profit from extended warrantees. I routinely refuse them and assume that over time, for all the items, appliances and electronics that I buy, I will spend less on the occaisional out of pocket expense than for all extended warrantees combined.

I believe that Consumer Reports recommends extended warrantees for only two products: plasma TV's (expensive when they break) and laptop computers (frequently have problems).

Ken

[bpurcell]

I believe that Consumer Reports recommends extended warrantees for only two products: plasma TV's (expensive when they break) and laptop computers (frequently have problems).

They've actually stopped the recommendation for laptops. But they have started suggesting it for Apple computers, because free customer support ends quickly (I think 30 or 60 days).

[krstone]

They've actually stopped the recommendation for laptops. But they have started suggesting it for Apple computers, because free customer support ends quickly (I think 30 or 60 days).

For any Apple hardware: warrantee lasts one year but free telephone support is 90 days.
Ken