New Series 3 HD Tivo has intermittent black screen

[burbboy]

I've read thru a few posts on here, but none sound like the situation that I am experiencing.

While watching both recorded and live tv, the screen will go blank for a second or two and then come back. I'd say that it happens a few times an hour. I have not yet received my cable cards, so I know the problem is not with them. Prior to the HD S3, I had a S2 with no issues at all.

Any thoughts? I'm supposed to be getting my cable cards tomorrow, but wondering if I first should try exchange the unit, as I've only had it about a week and a half. I've also read a lot about problems with the new software and people having issues with external drives (already have one purchased, but want to come to resolution on this before I make matter worse!).

[ThAbtO]

The S2 doesn't have the ability to change resolution. If this happens on the HD when changing channels or between recorded and live; the blanking is the THD switching resolution from say, 720p to 1080i to 480i and back. This happens when the format is set to Native, or hybrid; setting to fixed will stop it.

[rainwater]

Some TVs take longer to switch resolutions than others. If yours only takes a second or so, then its not too bad. Mine is about the same and I have gotten use to it. I would rather run as native than 'fix' the issue by setting it to fixed resolution. But you can certainly set it to "fixed" mode in the settings to stop the flicker.

[burbboy]

Thanks to both of you for the input. This issue occurs when I am not changing the channel. I'll be watching an hour long, non-HD, show and it'll occur several times.

I did notice the grey screen that you mentioned when changing channels. I figured as much that it was the resolutions changing, so it didn't concern me (nor did it affect my TV watching!) :)

[burbboy]

The other thing that I did last night after reading through some additional posts was to check my signal strength.

I found that it was around 57 (I'm guessing out of 100 based upon the scale across the bottom of the screen). I read some posts that the HD Tivo unit required a stronger signal than the S2, however I can't find anywhere what impact a '57' may have.

My next step is to remove the cable splitter before I get my cable cards this afternoon since I'll now have a dual-tuner device!

[mazman]

The other thing that I did last night after reading through some additional posts was to check my signal strength.

I found that it was around 57 (I'm guessing out of 100 based upon the scale across the bottom of the screen). I read some posts that the HD Tivo unit required a stronger signal than the S2, however I can't find anywhere what impact a '57' may have.

I had similar problems with a signal strength between 50-60. I had Comcast install a signal booster and now I'm consistantly at a 93-100 signal strength and the problem went away.

[hummingbird_206]

Are you using HDMI? If so, it could be the HDMI input on your TV. I have the problem with both my S3 and my Blu Ray player, both using the HDMI input on the TV thru an HDMI switch. I had the S3 for a few months and noticed the problem once in a while and thought maybe it was the TiVo, but then when I got the Blu Ray player and added the switch and had the same problem I figured out it's the HDMI input on the TV. I don't get it very often (maybe once during a typical movie, maybe once or twice a day on the S3) and so it's not a huge annoyance. On both I can rewind a few second and the stuff that was black screened shows up.

[burbboy]

I removed the splitter and signal has gone up to 85-95. Also had the M-card delivered, but haven't watched any tv yet to see if there is any difference.

I do have to say that I'm glad I did my research on this site cuz the Comcast guy had no clue what was going on. He didn't even understand Tivo or why I'd want a cable card. He phone another guy who also was clueless (sounded like neither had touched a card in over 2 years...odd!).

I basically took the card, did my thing, and had him call it in to activate. There was a slight issue at first with the HD channels coming in, but he called in again and they sent a re-initialize to the card and all was well. Now just hope the stronger signal fixes my issue and fingers crossed that Comcast doesn't mess up my billing!!