Tuner0 Fine, Tuner1 Problem.

[Blahman]

Well, here I am 16 months after purchasing my Series 3 TiVo and I am having my first major issue with my Series3 TiVo. Tuner 1 is acting poorly.

The problem I am having is on several channels in a narrow band of frequencies. So far it only appears to be channels on the 621000KHz as reported by the Diagnostics screen. Below is an example from watching the same channel on each channel tuner for alternating 5 minute periods over a total of 30 minutes.

Example Test Channel:
707
621000 KHz

Symptoms:
Tuner 0: Signal Level of 90 -- SNR of 34-35. 0 to few RS Uncorrected Errors and 0 to few RS Corrected Errors. Rare Pixelization. Rare audio breakup.
Tuner 1: Signal Level jump around from as low as 30 to as high as 90 staying at a level for a few seconds up to about a minute then jumping again. SNR 33-35. Constantly increasing RS Uncorrected and RS Corrected Errors. Massive Pixelization. Extreme audio breakup. Went to blank screen with message "Searching for signal on: Cable In" twice.

Has anyone else experienced anything else like this before?
How much would it generally cost to get repaired?

This is a Series 3 with Lifetime Service and frankly buying an $800 device and then spending $400 for Lifetime on it only to have it start showing problems in under two years is extremely disappointing. I've still got older TiVo units that run strong.

I hope that someone has experienced such an issue and can offer advice or even better an easy fix. :)

So far I have tried the obvious things, making sure all connections good, reseating the cable cards, restarting the TiVo. Even pulled the power plug and restarted that way. No change.

[windracer]

Maybe something's wrong with the CableCARD? Have you checked some of the CableCARD diagnostic screens to see if there's anything strange in there?

If you're adventurous, you could try swapping the cards in their slots. You might have to call your cable provider to have them re-paired. That would at least help you narrow it down to the card or your TiVo.

[Blahman]

I have ruled out the external drive as I booted without it and let the TiVo clear all my recordings. Same problem remained.

I am more uncertain than ever as to the cause but things appear working again. Based on what I have heard Cablevision does not marry the card to the Host. This appears to be correct as I was able to switch cards and continue to tune channels including premiums. Even tried a card in the TV for giggles and it worked fine.

Start condition: Problem 621000KHz breakups on Tuner1
CC0 in Slot 1
CC1 in Slot 2

First Swap: Problem 471000KHz breakups Tuner 1
CC1 in Slot 1
CC0 in Slot 2
So far looks like Tuner 1 right.

Second Swap: Problem 711000KHz breakups on Tuner 0
CC0 in Slot 1 (Starting position)
CC1 in Slot 2 (Starting position)

Third Swap: No Problems on either tuner currently.
CC1 in Slot 1
CC0 in Slot 2

I think tonight after the wife goes to bed I will pull the drive to make a backup and check its integrity.

My other S3 appears to be doing just fine, of course it is not as old.

[rainwater]

I think tonight after the wife goes to bed I will pull the drive to make a backup and check its integrity.

My other S3 appears to be doing just fine, of course it is not as old.

I have never heard of a hard drive issue causing signal quality to be low. I would ask your cable company to come out and check the signal on your lines. Sometimes weather can affect the signal quality which is why you may not alway see it (also moisture in the lines can do this).

[Blahman]

I have never heard of a hard drive issue causing signal quality to be low. I would ask your cable company to come out and check the signal on your lines. Sometimes weather can affect the signal quality which is why you may not alway see it (also moisture in the lines can do this).

Yes, I have been a victim of bad lines before. However, I believe this would be internal to the TiVo and the CableCard system as the problem would only occur on a single tuner. During periods where the problem was observed, the other tuner was without issue and strong signal and what I believe to be decent SNR for the same channel/frequency. After rebooting the TiVo on several occasions this was painfully obvious since the Series3 starts both tuners on the same channel after a reboot. With only a single line into the TiVo I would expect that to eliminate anything prior to the TiVo, else both tuners should experience issue (I think). The TiVo that is not having a problem is actually 2 splits behind the TiVo in the main room. Problem only started recently.

Since the card swapping earlier today I have not hit on any channels or frequencies with issue on either tuner. On a somewhat positive note I am building a nice map of how massively over utilized some frequencies are on Cablevision.

[Blahman]

I decided not to pull the drive yesterday since things are still working well (even with the cards in the swapped slots).

Instead I ordered a pair of 1TB WD10EVCS Drives. I figure I should just wait a few days to do the backup and while I have it apart just do an upgrade at the same time.

Still curious if anyone has experienced anything like this before with their S3 or HD?

It is nice to know that the cable cards are not married to the HostID. Never know when that might come in handy.

If the problem occurs again I'll swap which room the S3 units are in to see if it moves with the S3, or remains at the same room.