Newbie Question: Tivo not recording shows on Dish

[theherings]

Okay...

Here's my issue. When I select shows to record (and I selected shows off the guide), none of my shows recorded and the screen "Channel not available. Upgrade now." was recorded instead. I already removed all the channels I do not subscribe to in the Dish Network and since I selected the channels from the guide as opposed to the Season Pass, I figured that would solve the problem.

My Series 2 Dual Tuner Tivo doesn't seem to have any problems recording when the tv is on. Do I have to keep the tv on to record? Both my sat. receiver and Tivo were on.

I'm already disappointed that I can't record one show and watch another since I have Dish Network, which makes me think Tivo isn't going to work for us. But, now I can't record the shows I want to without that stupid message from Dish Network. And when I checked the Now Playing List, it did show the correct channel.

Your help would be much appreciated.

Jamie

[RonDawg]

If you tune those channels directly using the Dish STB's own remote control, do you get the same message? If so there's a problem on Dish Network's end (they think you don't subscribe to thse channels).

In setups where the TiVo is hooked to an external box (the STB), all it does is send a channel changing code to the box, and record whatever the box outputs, including any error messages.

And no you don't have to leave the TV on to record. That is an urban myth that goes back to the earliest days of the VCR.

[theherings]

I can access those channels any other time. It's just when I'm recording shows in the middle of the night that there's a problem. I wondering if maybe I have something in my season pass that is being recorded on a channel I should have gotten rid of and then Tivo can't switch to a new channel. I'll check again. Thanks!

Jamie

[RonDawg]

I can access those channels any other time. It's just when I'm recording shows in the middle of the night that there's a problem. I wondering if maybe I have something in my season pass that is being recorded on a channel I should have gotten rid of and then Tivo can't switch to a new channel. I'll check again. Thanks!

If your Dish STB requires you to exit out of the error message by pressing a specific key, rather than by simply entering another channel, then yes that would cause this problem. You may want to try to disable Suggestions since this will record programs without your knowledge, including ones that you may not subscribe to but still show up on the Guide data.

[burbanknate]

It sounds to me like maybe your TiVo tries to tune to a specifi channel, say channel 503, but maybe the IR isn't set up perfectly and it accidentally tunes to a channel you don't get, like maybe 53. With Dish, if you are tuned to a channel you don't get, you can ONLY chnage the channel with the "channel up/down" butons on the Dish Network remote. Since TiVo changes channels ONLY by entering numbers, the channel won't change and you'll record an error message. Happened to me several times.