Tivo HD - Second tuner not working

[typecase]

Hello,

New to the community. I did a search and didn't find this exact problem so forgive me if this has been covered.

For about two months, my Tivo HD has not been tuning the second tuner. One tuner works fine, but when you hit the LiveTV button again, you get a black screen. Cablecards were swapped out with no change to the problem. :(

Are there any suggestions to fix this problem? I may have to send the unit in for repair but I'd prefer not to if at all possible thinking there may be something I haven't thought of. Any help greatly appreciated.

[lafos]

Who is the cable provider? Is it black when tuning to analog and digital channels?

there's a DVR diagnostics screen under Messages and Settings - System Information. This screen gives info on each tuner and card. If one tuner shows that it's working and the other isn't, it may be time to cantact TiVo technical support.

[typecase]

I have Comcast. I've called Tivo Tech Support, they suggested the card swap. These cards were verified to work in another Tivo.

[bkdtv]

Do you have a TivoHD or Series3? If you don't know the difference -- the Series3 has an orange OLED display on the front, whereas the TivoHD does not.

If you have a TivoHD, do either of your cards say M-CARD? Or do both simply say CableCard or S-CARD?

[jfh3]

Look at the CableCARD FAQ - sounds like the second card may not be validated and may need to be re-paired (or, paired properly).

"Working in another Tivo" means nothing - when the cards are paired, you need both the serial/UA info from the CableCARD and the data address (unique to your Tivo) to get a proper pairing and validation.

If the second card gets validated (or you verify that it is), then you most likely have a hardware problem that will require the box be repaired/replaced.

[bkdtv]

The TivoHD only requires one M-CARD to support both tuners.

In another thread, someone suggested that running two M-CARDs caused problems for the second tuner in their TivoHD. They removed the second M-CARD and that fixed their problems.

[typecase]

While I may be new to the community, I'm certainly not new to Tivo. I have several units in my home. I should have made that clearer. The Tivo that's giving me trouble is a Tivo HD, not a series 3. I had the Tivo in question working with only one multistream card in it before all the trouble began. My Tivo series 3 has 2 single streams and is working fine.

2 different multistream cards were tested in the unit, one at a time. Both were verified to be paired and decoding all premium channels in another Tivo HD. I suppose this means I may have to repair it. Has anyone else had a similar problems? Do these tuners fail often?

[bkdtv]

While I may be new to the community, I'm certainly not new to Tivo. I have several units in my home. I should have made that clearer. The Tivo that's giving me trouble is a Tivo HD, not a series 3. I had the Tivo in question working with only one multistream card in it before all the trouble began. My Tivo series 3 has 2 single streams and is working fine.

2 different multistream cards were tested in the unit, one at a time. Both were verified to be paired and decoding all premium channels in another Tivo HD. I suppose this means I may have to repair it. Has anyone else had a similar problems? Do these tuners fail often?With the TivoHD, you should only have one Multistream card installed, and only in the slot on the right.

Paired means paired to a specific device. If it works with another TiVo, that means it wasn't paired to your TiVo. And taking the card out and testing it with another unit could cause it to become unpaired, requiring that it be re-paired again by your cable company. Once a card is paired to your TiVo, you should not plug it into any other CableCard devices.

[jfh3]

2 different multistream cards were tested in the unit, one at a time. Both were verified to be paired and decoding all premium channels in another Tivo HD.
That means the card is fine.

I suppose this means I may have to repair it.

Yes, it needs to be paired again. Make sure it's validated too.

[typecase]

I didn't mean for this thread to be fixated on the cards or the definition of paired. Each multistream card (two were tested, one at a time in the right slot) was re-paired by the cable company and was decoding premium content on both tuners in a separate Tivo. The point I was trying to make was that the cards seemed not to be the issue. I simply wanted some suggestions other than the cards before repair.

[fergie8]

Hello,

New to the community. I did a search and didn't find this exact problem so forgive me if this has been covered.

For about two months, my Tivo HD has not been tuning the second tuner. One tuner works fine, but when you hit the LiveTV button again, you get a black screen. Cablecards were swapped out with no change to the problem. :( [...]

[...]
2 different multistream cards were tested in the unit, one at a time. Both were verified to be paired and decoding all premium channels in another Tivo HD. I suppose this means I may have to repair it. Has anyone else had a similar problems? Do these tuners fail often?

About a year or so ago there did seem to be an unfortunate number of reports concerning the failure of one of the two tuners in TiVo HD units. While the thread Tivo HD Pixelation Troubleshooting (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5796942) doesn't discuss your "exact" problem, you might find the referenced post in that thread and others thereabouts to be useful reading.

I don't know that I would want to say that TiVo HD tuners "fail often", but based on my own experience and what I've read in the forums here, I wouldn't rate them highly in the category of quality. Given that, and your description of the problem you are experiencing and the cable card swapping you've already gone through, I would certainly give that failed tuner possibility serious consideration.

Good luck!

--
Fergie

[typecase]

Thanks Fergie, that was helpful.