Spurious "You do not have this service" type message on VM

[Tim L]

I've recently set up my Tivo again from scratch, and this morning when I checked it I saw that I, Claudius had recorded with a whopping great banner from Virgin helpfully slapped over the top . :mad:

The thing is, I can't see anything that might have triggered it. The last program it had recorded was also I, Claudius on the UK History Channel - I don't see anything else in the history. Also, when I set it up, I went through all the channels on my cable box and deselected the ones I don't get in the channels list.

So to cut a long story short, what I'm asking is, is there a channel in my VM package that's known to be problematic in this way, or is this just one of those wonderfully rubbish things that I have to put up with from Virgin? Also, is there any automatic way of dispensing with the pesky messages? I'm guessing that setting Tivo to send enter after a channel change would be too fast.

[AMc]

When I had Telewest cable I use to get spurious "The Smartcard may be inserted incorrectly, reinsert smartcard" messages every now and then.
IIRC they were more frequent around midnight when the porn channels went on, but I may be misremembering that.
I 'fixed it' with digital mains timer that restarted the cable box at 5.56am each day. That meant I only lost a few recordings to the dreadful banners.

[cwaring]

... is there a channel in my VM package that's known to be problematic in this way, or is this just one of those wonderfully rubbish things that I have to put up with from Virgin?

I have had the same probem with JAG on FX for the last couple of Wednesdays, and only that programme on that channel. Very strange :confused:

So, "no" to the former and "yes" to the latter.

Also, is there any automatic way of dispensing with the pesky messages? I'm guessing that setting Tivo to send enter after a channel change would be too fast.
I have asked VM (and Telewest before them) on a number of occasions to implement a 30-second time-out but they haven't yet :(

[Tim L]

I have asked VM (and Telewest before them) on a number of occasions to implement a 30-second time-out but they haven't yet :(

That would be great. I miss the simplicity of good old analogue TV sometimes. If I could get a decent Freeview box I'd use that instead of the VM box for Tivo, but reading that recent thread makes it clear that such an animal isn't easy to find.

[cwaring]

Just remembered that I did mention this in the TV support newsgroup last week and was told that ...

That error message can sometimes be because the box is responding to a NAGRA security issue or a problem within NAGRA.

So now you know ;)

[Tim L]

Does that mean it could be smartcard related then? Or just that Nagravision and Virgin Media are about as competent as each other? ;)

[cwaring]

Either or; take your pick :p (I really have no idea!)

ETA:
Just had an email from a contact @ VM saying that they "know of several channel combinations on the Knowsley network that cause this [problem] (e.g. GemsTV/Hallmark, and Bid/Horror)" but have not heard of it on the Bromley network, which apparently I'm on.