How do I disable the second tuner?

[brumblebug]

I have a series 2 with 2 tuners. A few months ago my cable company went full digital and now my second tuner doesn't work. I've gone through the setup multiple times but the second tuner still tries to record, so i get 2 seconds of black and then nothing on half my shows. I thought that after it got through the 'to do' list it would simply stop recording on that tuner (someone told me that would happen), but it still keeps trying to record.

Can anyone tell me how to totally disable the second tuner to my recording stops messing up? I though i'd like having two tuners, but it's pretty useless with digital cable. *sigh*

[worachj]

You have to re-run guided setup and re-do the cable box setup for digital cable.
http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/setupmytivo/How_Do_I_Configure_My_Cable_Provider_Dual_Tuner_DVR_.html

Step 3: Enable Dual Tuner. Select “No, I do not want to enable dual tuner.”

[Ben_Jamin75]

Shouldn't you be able to just uncheck all the non-digital channels from the channel list? Keep the "box" channels and remove the "cbl" ones.

[nirisahn]

Shouldn't you be able to just uncheck all the non-digital channels from the channel list? Keep the "box" channels and remove the "cbl" ones.
For channels 1-99, they're the same. The OP would lose all those channels by doing that.

[scandia101]

For channels 1-99, they're the same. The OP would lose all those channels by doing that.

No, channels 1-99 are each listed twice. The cable channels requiring the set top box get labeled as "box" and the analog channels connected directly to the RF input get labeled as "cb.l" Unchecking the "cbl" channels only affects the "cbl" channels.

[scandia101]

Shouldn't you be able to just uncheck all the non-digital channels from the channel list? Keep the "box" channels and remove the "cbl" ones.

That would work, but it's just a work around for setting up the TiVo the proper way.

[brumblebug]

That would work, but it's just a work around for setting up the TiVo the proper way.

I wish it did work, but unfortunately it doesn't. I'm pretty sure i went through the guided setup as well, per another member's suggestion above, and the darn thing still keeps trying to record with the second tuner.

[scandia101]

I wish it did work, but unfortunately it doesn't. I'm pretty sure i went through the guided setup as well, per another member's suggestion above, and the darn thing still keeps trying to record with the second tuner.

That's because after you went through the guided setup you had two weeks recordings already scheduled that shouldn't but stay scheduled.
Your best bet after repeating guided setup for cable w/box only, is to delete and recreate the affected season passes.

[jrm01]

Re-running Guided Setup and re-setting the Season Passes as suggested should solve the problem.

However, just to satisfy my curiosity who is your cable provider and where do you live? Most cable companies when they go to "all digital" still leave 8-10 local channels as analog. Apparently yours did not.

[b4favre]

I have a twist on the question that's been asked here. I do NOT use a cable box or cablecards -- it's just a straight coax cable connection. But for a reason that's too complicated to go into here, I'd like to be able to disable the second tuner as well.

The problem is that the solution offered above is to go through the setup, and choose the Cable Box version of the Guided Setup. I don't have a box. So won't that screw me up? I'd like to use use my same old coax and a single tuner.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated....

[pdhenry]

Trade your S2DT for a single tuner S2?

[b4favre]

This is just a temporary need. Normally, I'm very happy having two tuners.

Sorry...

[classicsat]

There is no way to disable only one of the analog tuners on a Seties 2 DT, it is both analog tuners or none.

[b4favre]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding. My read of the earlier part of the thread is that when you go through Guided Setup and choose the cable box, and then choose the SINGLE tuner option, you're doing exactly that -- disabling one of the two analog tuners. The Tivo then performs like a single-tuner Tivo. Right?

I'm just trying to do the same thing, but without the cable box alternative. So it seems like this should be possible, but I'm wondering if anyone has done it.

Thanks in advance...

[pdhenry]

You need to explain why this is important to you... :)

[gastrof]

It's part of a Communist plot to destroy TiVo life as we know it.

[b4favre]

Alright... I'm hoping the details encourage more suggested solutions. Here goes:

Basically, I need to set up the Tivo to display current TV programs in a set order (without using a remote to change the channel). So let's say I need the TV to be showing channel 2 from 9-10am, then channel 5 from 10-noon, then channel 9 from noon-3pm, etc. With a single-tuner Tivo, this is easy -- I just set up the Tivo to record each of these blocks. When the time comes, Tivo starts recording and that channel shows up on the video output.

But with a dual-tuner Tivo, setting up those recordings doesn't do any good. The programs would be recorded, of course. But they wouldn't be displayed. In fact, given the Tivo's internal logic about what to display, each of those recordings would happen on the tuner NOT being used for current display. (This is usually a feature, because Tivo assumes that I'm interested in continuing to watch what's on the video output, so it pushes the recording task to the other tuner. But for my purposes, this becomes a bug.)

So... if I could disable the second tuner, then I could set up the recordings and control the video output exactly as I need it. But I'm not using a cable box. I'm not clear whether I could use Guided Setup again, choose a Cable Box, choose single tuner, and then still continue to control the Tivo channel by channel. (I'm guessing not, because Tivo would send those channel changes to the external IR.)

Ideas?

[matt@thehickmans]

Ideas?

Set up a manual season pass ("record by time or channel" => "set up a manual recording") to duplicate the season passes you already have. My experience is that when you do this, both tuners will go to the same channel.

[b4favre]

A-hah!! Now we're getting somewhere.

Excellent suggestion. I will try this out this evening, and report back on my progress. It's drudgery doing all of this double work, but if it gets me there, I'll be thrilled!

[ciper]

I was going to say setup an 8 hour manual recording on a channel you dont receive. The Tivo still tries to record it but it uses no disk space!

[b4favre]

OK. That's another creative solution, but if I did it that way, how would I make sure that the tuner doing the display was the "real" one and not the fake one with the 8 hours of nothing from the bad channel?

[ciper]

Maybe set the blank recording to start at a time when you can switch to the other tuner?

Satellite receivers often have an autotune function like you are trying to get. Do cable boxes have it as well?

[b4favre]

It's got to be automated. I can't be there to change the tuner.

I think -- and I'm guessing here -- that if I started the fake recording 5 minutes before the real recording, the fake recording would happen on the tuner in the background. Then 5 minutes later, Tivo would change the live tuner to the real recording. And it would stay like that all the way through the rest of the day.

My worry with that is that some other recording at some time that I don't care about would reverse the order at some point.

I think I'll try the "two duplicate recording paths" version first, just because if it works, I think it's more stable.

Thanks again for the help.

[dianebrat]

A-hah!! Now we're getting somewhere.

Excellent suggestion. I will try this out this evening, and report back on my progress. It's drudgery doing all of this double work, but if it gets me there, I'll be thrilled!

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to teach Aunt Millie how to use the remote?
I have to chuckle since everything sounds like you're looking to just have it display the shows you want on a tv so someone not able to change the channels gets the proper soaps/game shows.

Forgive me for being a bit flip, but that's what I'm putting together, and it's asking a lot for a Tivo to do, to deliberately turn off part of it's key function. I like the "borrow a single tuner for a month" solution.

Diane

[b4favre]

Matt: Unfortunately, creating two identical season passes didn't work. Tivo allowed me to create two identical ones, and then two more identical ones for when the channels should change. I could see all 4 in the Season Pass area. But in the ToDo list, only one of each was listed. And when the time came, only the tuner not being currently used was switched, and only one copy of each program was collected.

However...

ciper's suggestion will do the trick. Basically, I will create a blank recording that spans whatever time period I'm interested in, and make sure it starts 5 minutes before the real stuff starts. Tivo will warn me that it's switching the tuner I'm NOT watching to that fake recording. And then 5 minutes later, it's forced to switch the current viewable tuner to the real first recording.

I tested it out, and it appears to work perfectly. I'll have to test one more thing (what happens in the transition from one real recording to the next), but I have every expectation that the current tuner will remain visible and I'll see the second real program.

(Also confirmed: the fake recording isn't taking up any space!)

Many thanks for all suggestions, and for getting me moving on this.

Best wishes for the new year to all...

[ciper]

(Also confirmed: the fake recording isn't taking up any space!)
I only figured that out because I was on vacation once and the cable got disconnected. I came back to find a now playing list with way more recordings than should have been possible. I like that even the S1 was able to know the difference between static (or no video input) vs a real program :)