Cox NoVA does it again

[Miller]

Well, I come home from work today and my Tuning Adapter is blinking. So I follow the troubleshooting steps (unplug USB cable, unplug power cord, restart TiVo) with no success. I called Cox and after getting through to technical support and explaining that the issue was with my Tuning Adapter I was placed on hold. After 30 minutes, I was disconnected. So I called back. This time I spent 45 minutes on hold and finally got a technical support person who was willing to help. I explained that I was having an issue with my Tuning Adapter and that I already unplugged the USB cable, power cord, and restarted the TiVo. “Tuning Adapter, what’s that?” “That is what allows my TiVo to receive switched digital video.” “Oh, OK. Did we provide you with that?” “Yes, you did.” “What is wrong with it?” “The green light is flashing and I am not receiving any of the channels it is supposed to provide.” “Uh, that has a power cord right?” “Yeah, that is what I told you I unplugged.” “OK, unplug it for me for 10 seconds and plug it back in. There are like eight lights on that, right?” “One.” “Oh, is it still flashing?” “Yes.” “Uh, we’ll have a technician out there between 10:00 AM and Noon on Friday.”

[moyekj]

Just what we needed - another unstable piece of equipment to accompany the fragile cablecards. At some point all the stars have to align just right so you don't miss any recordings... crazy.

[lrhorer]

Just what we needed - another unstable piece of equipment to accompany the fragile cablecards. At some point all the stars have to align just right so you don't miss any recordings... crazy.
My S3 class TiVos almost never miss a recording. They are far, far better than the S1 / STB combination I used for 6 years. The Pace STB had a habit of shutting itself off around 04:00, so frequently I would fire up the TiVo after a couple of days inactivity to find I had missed half a week's worth of programming. At that, the S1 / STB combination was vastly better than the piece of $#!% Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. It missed upwards of 20% of the programs I had set it to record.

I shouldn't be surprised it may take some time before the bugs are worked out of the TA systems, but I'm confident the result will be much, much better than the perfromance of years past.

[moyekj]

I have to admit my S3s are very stable as well and don't miss recordings, but I have a pretty "safe" setup (CableCards, stock internal drives, component connections). Someone with all of the following may not be so lucky:
- Wireless adapter
- External drive
- CableCards
- Tuning Adapter
- HDMI

[lafos]

I have to admit my S3s are very stable as well and don't miss recordings, but I have a pretty "safe" setup (CableCards, stock internal drives, component connections). Someone with all of the following may not be so lucky:
- Wireless adapter
- External drive
- CableCards
- Tuning Adapter
- HDMI

I have all but the Tuning Adapter, and my TiVo HD runs and runs, records and plays, just fine. I hope that the TA will show up soon.

[deaddeeds]

My TiVo had never missed a recording until the TA came along. My TA is not very stable as it will randomly reboot and force my S3 TiVo to dump any active recording or 30 min buffer. Clearly more troubleshooting needs to be performed by both TiVo and Cox. I am thinking I might try swapping my TA for another one see if that helps.

Not to mention the other issues being described in the original thread:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=412065&page=8

[darksurtur]

I have to admit my S3s are very stable as well and don't miss recordings, but I have a pretty "safe" setup (CableCards, stock internal drives, component connections). Someone with all of the following may not be so lucky:
- Wireless adapter
- External drive
- CableCards
- Tuning Adapter
- HDMI

I'm not sure what some of these things could possibly do to affect recordings. HDMI, for instance, is just the way the TiVo sends its signal out to a display device. It will still record fine with no output at all, whether component or HDMI or composite. A wireless adapter should be fine 99% of the time for everything but last minute schedule changes even if your network goes down (for less than two weeks in a row).

[TheLongshot]

Other than killing the first TA by putting it in a poorly ventelated spot, I've had no problem with the TA. It still records everything like a charm.

As for Tech Support, it probably will be a struggle for a while, since not many are that familiar with the TA and it is going to be a small percentage of the calls.

[Revolutionary]

Other than killing the first TA by putting it in a poorly ventelated spot, I've had no problem with the TA. It still records everything like a charm.

As for Tech Support, it probably will be a struggle for a while, since not many are that familiar with the TA and it is going to be a small percentage of the calls.

You know, I'm beginning to worry about ventilation with mine. Didn't realize they ran so darn hot. I've noticed that the temperature in my equipment cabinet feels considerably higher since I installed the TA. Probably time to move it before it fries my S3, or my PS3...

[moyekj]

I'm not sure what some of these things could possibly do to affect recordings. HDMI, for instance, is just the way the TiVo sends its signal out to a display device. It will still record fine with no output at all, whether component or HDMI or composite. A wireless adapter should be fine 99% of the time for everything but last minute schedule changes even if your network goes down (for less than two weeks in a row). FYI, I have seen reports in TCF of HDMI connected Tivos rebooting when TV turned on, but I included it more from a reliability standpoint. My point was for reliability in general, not just missed recordings.

[Miller]

I was hoping that it would miraculously fix itself before I came home from work today. That is what it did the last time I had this problem. No such luck.

[Miller]

Other than killing the first TA by putting it in a poorly ventelated spot, I've had no problem with the TA. It still records everything like a charm.

As for Tech Support, it probably will be a struggle for a while, since not many are that familiar with the TA and it is going to be a small percentage of the calls.

I understand that it is going to take tech support some time to get up to speed on these TAs, but it is not comforting when they ask, "What is a Tuning Adapter?" "Oh, did we supply that for you?"

[darksurtur]

FYI, I have seen reports in TCF of HDMI connected Tivos rebooting when TV turned on, but I included it more from a reliability standpoint. My point was for reliability in general, not just missed recordings.

I see - handshake issues, occurring for no good reason at all. HDMI (and its built-in paranoid DRM) is such a bad deal for consumers.

[thewebgal]

Interestingly, we took a power hit last night. In the heavy wind, something bumped the lines and power dropped completely for about an hour. No warning, no blinks, just OFF.

When it came back around 9:30PM, I waited about 10 minutes before staring the TV and such ... just be sure it was stable and didn't drop again.

When I did power everything back up, the TIVOHD was still in its restarting cycle, but the tuning Adapter was locked on steady green, no blinking ...

No problems, we even watched Cabaret later via Netflicks VOD - played fine ...

I'm still amazed it was that stable!

[Miller]

Well the Cox technician arrived. Apparently our account was not set up correctly when we received the Tuning Adapter. He said that if your account is not set up correctly it will work for several weeks and then die. If anyone else in Northern Virginia has a Tuning Adapter that worked and suddenly stopped working call Cox and make sure that the TA is the “first occurrence” on your account. If it isn’t, that might be what is causing the problem.