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View Full Version : Anyone have any issues with Tivo losing your encrypted channels?

Sandlapper
10-22-2008, 06:07 PM
Hello everyone, I posted this in the help forum but got no bites over there so I thought I would try here:

I've had my TivoHD for around 2 years. Everything has worked fine after the initial nightmare of getting Charter to get the CableCards working correctly. Yesterday when I came home from work I noticed that none of the HD channels that are encrypted were working. They were just a black screen, the locals which are unencrypted were still working fine. I restarted the Tivo and everything was working fine. I chalked it up to a one time thing but then it did it again this afternoon, and once again this evening. I'm beginning to think this is going to be an ongoing issue. My question is if this is a Tivo issue or CableCard issue? Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Sandlapper
Brainiac 5
10-22-2008, 07:02 PM
Do you know the manufacturer of the CableCards? Are they Scientific Atlanta, or Motorola? At one time many people with Scientific Atlanta cards had this problem. It seemed to be mostly fixed by subsequent TiVo software updates, but I've been experiencing it lately again myself.
Sandlapper
10-22-2008, 08:07 PM
Do you know the manufacturer of the CableCards? Are they Scientific Atlanta, or Motorola? At one time many people with Scientific Atlanta cards had this problem. It seemed to be mostly fixed by subsequent TiVo software updates, but I've been experiencing it lately again myself.

I'm scared to pop them out and potentially screw something up worse but if I remember correctly they were Motorola.
Brainiac 5
10-22-2008, 10:30 PM
I don't recall people talking about this happening with Motorola cards, but then again I have Scientific Atlanta cards so I've only read the threads about those.

Maybe someone more familiar with Motorola cards can provide some information. Anyone...?
rmstone
10-24-2008, 11:11 AM
What are HD encriypted Channels?

I had USA HD for about a week during the olympics with TW, but now it's gone.
Brainiac 5
10-24-2008, 11:21 AM
What are HD encriypted Channels?Usually all channels except the local ones are encrypted.
BrentLA
10-24-2008, 07:45 PM
Same problem here. TWC rep tells me that they sent out a "Copyright Protection" update to the cards and that it has caused issues for lots of people. They of course can't send anyone out today or tomorrow, so I get to wait till I have time next FRIDAY...... I even offered to drive my TiVo to them to swap out cards at the warehouse. No luck.
Not very happy right now.

Brent
rlheest
10-24-2008, 09:33 PM
This week I activated a cable card in my new Tivo HD. The service worked fine for one day (thursday) and today I can't receive my HBO channels. I just spent an hour with tier 3 support and they can't figure it out.
rainwater
10-24-2008, 09:49 PM
This week I activated a cable card in my new Tivo HD. The service worked fine for one day (thursday) and today I can't receive my HBO channels. I just spent an hour with tier 3 support and they can't figure it out.

Usually calling TiVo's cablecard support hotline is most helpful as the can properly determine what the issue is and work with the cable provider to fix the problem.
WebG
10-25-2008, 12:43 PM
This week I activated a cable card in my new Tivo HD. The service worked fine for one day (thursday) and today I can't receive my HBO channels. I just spent an hour with tier 3 support and they can't figure it out.

If it's a Comcast cable card, the number to call is posted in the Official Comcast Cablecard thread. If it's not a Comcast card, you could still try calling the number to see if the same techs can help.

Of course, when you say "today I can't receive your HBO channels", what message is TiVo or the cable company displaying on your screen... and do you have HBO on any non-cablecard box that you have in your house?
gcsheph
10-25-2008, 02:21 PM
Comcast note: Twice now Comcast has had to come out because all my channels >100 disappeared-- once on both cards (S3HD) and once on card 2 only. The tech had no idea except "cable cards are a problem" - he had to give the cards a 'hit' by calling in on his phone. He said the local service people weren't allowed to do this for 'security reasons' - probably they don't trust them or whatever - who knows. These 2 failures were after the cards had been in for a number of months were within 3 days of one another. We'll have to see how long they hang on this time.
Sandlapper
10-26-2008, 12:30 AM
UPDATE:

2 days ago or so it happened again in the afternoon but I didn't bother resetting the Tivo. The next day I turned on the Tivo and all the channels were working. No problems since. I'm hoping my good luck continues.
Sandlapper
11-01-2008, 08:50 PM
And its started doing again... :(
Georgia Guy
11-02-2008, 12:04 PM
And its started doing again... :(
Do you get the grey "cablecard" screen (with a message saying that the screen is provided for your cable company) appearing after the black screen?

I had that problem with HBO on Comcast last week. Comcast sent a guy out who said that some "brilliant engineer" at Comcast sent out a signal that killed the authorization of pay channels on all cable cards. He said that he had spent the last two days going from cablecard user to the next, restoring the cable cards to correctly showing the pay channels. He fixed mine in about 20 minutes (most of that time he was on hold, waiting for help from the office).
slowbiscuit
11-02-2008, 12:50 PM
Now we know why Comcast's rates are so high - they roll trucks instead of fixing CC problems with a simple customer phone call.
Sandlapper
11-05-2008, 11:18 AM
Do you get the grey "cablecard" screen (with a message saying that the screen is provided for your cable company) appearing after the black screen?

I had that problem with HBO on Comcast last week. Comcast sent a guy out who said that some "brilliant engineer" at Comcast sent out a signal that killed the authorization of pay channels on all cable cards. He said that he had spent the last two days going from cablecard user to the next, restoring the cable cards to correctly showing the pay channels. He fixed mine in about 20 minutes (most of that time he was on hold, waiting for help from the office).

No, it's just black. If I restart the box they come back. This isn't just "premium" channels, it's anything encrypted, such as ESPNHD, HDNET, etc.
Sandlapper
11-05-2008, 11:19 AM
I'm now back in the period of time where it's working for a few days, I'm assuming it'll drop the channels in a day or two...
AbMagFab
11-05-2008, 12:24 PM
And its started doing again... :(

Most likely a weak signal issue, and the CCs are losing their provisioning. Happened to me with Comcast until I cleaned up their signal (never happens with FIOS).
Sandlapper
11-12-2008, 03:05 PM
Most likely a weak signal issue, and the CCs are losing their provisioning. Happened to me with Comcast until I cleaned up their signal (never happens with FIOS).

Interesting. The signal is pretty bad. I have to use a signal booster from Radio Shack so that the HD channels don't constantly pixelate...
bareyb
11-12-2008, 08:51 PM
Interesting. The signal is pretty bad. I have to use a signal booster from Radio Shack so that the HD channels don't constantly pixelate...

The signal booster may actually BE the problem. Ground loop isolators can cause similar problems too. Have you tried removing everything from the line and just plugging directly in? If you signal is that bad you may need a truck roll...