Endorphine
10-09-2007, 12:06 AM
Well here is my Tivo HD story:
Long time Tivo user, three series 2 Tivos. Decided it was time to upgrade one to a Tivo HD box. Called cable company for 2 S-series or 1 M-series cable cards.
Installer shows up the next day with two Motorola M-series cards, says he will not install them in a "competitors" box. Leaves them with me and tells me to call the cable company to activate them.
Call and the cable company is puzzled why the contracted installer would not install them. I get a hold of their technical lead and he helps me activate the cable card. At first I am getting everything, even the pay channels. Over the next 5-10 mins channels start disappearing randomly. I have one channel show up on a higher channel with no sound. The original channel just stays blank, but menus and the guild will show up. After a reboot all the channels come back, but continue to disappear.
Thinking I got a defective Tivo HD, I take it back to the store an get a new one. I call the cable supervisor again and we get the same cable card activated again. The new Tivo exhibits the same channel loss and channel movement as the first. Frustrated I call back and we try the second M-series card that was left with me.
Again, no change. At this point I am quite frustrated and at a loss what is going on. Wave Broadband is going to send a truck out and see if there is anything else they can do.
The Tivo diagnostics menu shows good signal levels in the 82+ range with good SNR 32+.
I also called the Tivo cable card hotline and they said the signal levels are the main cause of loosing channels, and that it should always be above 90+. I just don't understand how the Tivo HD could be so sensitive, and a crappy cable box would have not issues.
I will continue to work with my cable company and Tivo to get this fixed, but I think I made a big mistake switching. Clearly the Tivo with the Cablecards were not ready for your average consumers.
Long time Tivo user, three series 2 Tivos. Decided it was time to upgrade one to a Tivo HD box. Called cable company for 2 S-series or 1 M-series cable cards.
Installer shows up the next day with two Motorola M-series cards, says he will not install them in a "competitors" box. Leaves them with me and tells me to call the cable company to activate them.
Call and the cable company is puzzled why the contracted installer would not install them. I get a hold of their technical lead and he helps me activate the cable card. At first I am getting everything, even the pay channels. Over the next 5-10 mins channels start disappearing randomly. I have one channel show up on a higher channel with no sound. The original channel just stays blank, but menus and the guild will show up. After a reboot all the channels come back, but continue to disappear.
Thinking I got a defective Tivo HD, I take it back to the store an get a new one. I call the cable supervisor again and we get the same cable card activated again. The new Tivo exhibits the same channel loss and channel movement as the first. Frustrated I call back and we try the second M-series card that was left with me.
Again, no change. At this point I am quite frustrated and at a loss what is going on. Wave Broadband is going to send a truck out and see if there is anything else they can do.
The Tivo diagnostics menu shows good signal levels in the 82+ range with good SNR 32+.
I also called the Tivo cable card hotline and they said the signal levels are the main cause of loosing channels, and that it should always be above 90+. I just don't understand how the Tivo HD could be so sensitive, and a crappy cable box would have not issues.
I will continue to work with my cable company and Tivo to get this fixed, but I think I made a big mistake switching. Clearly the Tivo with the Cablecards were not ready for your average consumers.