Seeking advice for CableCard issue

[kemajor]

I've had a TivoHD for about a month now on Cox. I've noticed that almost anytime I record/view a particular channel (227) it has terrible pixelation and audio dropouts.

Cox send a "specialist" tech to my house last night. I must say I was astonished. He knew everything about the Tivo and he follows the forums here. Anyway, he spent a lot of time testing carefully my signals, etc. Then he started doing some experimentation and discovered something odd. Anytime channel 227 is on "tuner 1" it gets tons of errors, but if it is on "tuner 0" no errors, no problems. Other channels in another range have no problems on either tuner. I've been monitoring and testing this for almost 24 hours now and it is completely reproducible. We put the same line on a Cox Cable DVR and watched the same channels/diagnostic screens, no errors, not even any correctable ones. He says he has seen this before and it is a weak or bad tuner in the TivoHD and I should get it replaced. He seemed very knowledgeable and confidant so I sadly said OK and thanked him. After he left I started thinking maybe it is the CableCard itself with the issue and not the TivoHD tuner.

What do you all think? I have hundreds of hours of shows I have transferred and recorded on this TivoHD so changing it out is going to be a really big deal. Could it be the CableCard or do I just need to bite the bullet and swap the Tivo?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

- Kelly

[BJezz]

You could try swapping the cablecards over to prove this, but I don't know if swapping them would cause problems as I'm not sure if they are bound to the slot they are installed in. You could call Cox and ask. Just make sure you get through to someone who knows what you're on about, as cablecards seem to cause confusion for some reason. In theory, if you're on the phone to the right person and swapping them would cause a problem, they could re-activate the cards anyway.

[kemajor]

You could try swapping the cablecards over to prove this, but I don't know if swapping them would cause problems as I'm not sure if they are bound to the slot they are installed in. You could call Cox and ask. Just make sure you get through to someone who knows what you're on about, as cablecards seem to cause confusion for some reason. In theory, if you're on the phone to the right person and swapping them would cause a problem, they could re-activate the cards anyway.

My apologies, I was not clear in my message. I have just one M-CableCard and I'm referring to Tuner 0 and 1 on the same "M" CableCard.

- KEM

[hmm52]

My apologies, I was not clear in my message. I have just one M-CableCard and I'm referring to Tuner 0 and 1 on the same "M" CableCard.

- KEM

I doubt the cablecard could have any influence as tuning errors occur independent of cards, and whether installed or not.

I had a similar situation when an ampified antenna signal was screwing up QAM cable tuning at certain frequencies just on tuner 0. For this the remedy was easy. I suppose your problem could be internal or external to the TiVo. I would try attenuating the signal at input in the off chance that it might help.

[kemajor]

I doubt the cablecard could have any influence as tuning errors occur independent of cards, and whether installed or not.

I had a similar situation when an ampified antenna signal was screwing up QAM cable tuning at certain frequencies just on tuner 0. For this the remedy was easy. I suppose your problem could be internal or external to the TiVo. I would try attenuating the signal at input in the off chance that it might help.

OK, thanks for your suggestions and comments. I will give that a try.

- Kelly