TIVO doesn't record sporadically

[jshu43]

I have a TIVO HD that occasionally will not record fully. It will look like it's recording, but then I go in to watch and the progress line has stopped and it's just black but it looks like it is recording.

I reboot and keep going, but the real problem is that I bought my mother a TIVO HD and she is less technically savvy than I am (horrors!) and her machine seems to constantly do this. I told her to reboot, but she is rebooting every couple of days and is missing programs.

I bought these machines new from TIVO at separate times. My mother is really frustrated. Anyone have any answers?

[bkdtv]

Let me guess...your mother has basic cable?

The following post summarizes the issue:

You are both being hit by the notorious "loss of analog tuner" bug on the TivoHD and Series3, which still isn't addressed in 11.0c.

The 11.0 software introduced a serious bug that affects those with basic / analog cable. This bug causes the analog tuners to "go out" periodically, resulting in a black (or gray) screen on analog channels. To regain the picture on analog channels, the user must switch both tuners to digital channels (or switch between a few channels on the Settings -> Channels -> Channel strength screen)...or alternatively, reboot the TiVo.

Note this issue does not affect the digital tuners, so it does not affect digital channels from an off-air antenna or cable. When you install a CableCard on most cable systems, you get digital versions the analog channels, thus eliminating potential issues with lost analog tuners.

According to customer service, TiVo is working on an update to eliminate this issue for customers with basic / analog cable, but it's unclear when that will become available. One customer was told that TiVo expects to resolve this issue for good by the end of April, but I have not seen any other confirmation of that.

So wait, will getting a CableCard help resolve the Analog cable channel problem?

I just got my TivoHD yesterday, got the service update, and have had grey screen four times already.

I didn't bother getting a CableCard since I only have "basic" (analog) cable.
On most (not all) cable systems, you get digital versions of the analog channels whenever you install a CableCard. Cable companies refer to this as Analog Digital Simulcast (ADS). Most TivoHD users with CableCards do not have any analog channels, hence do not have a problem with the loss of analog tuners. There's an easy way for a CableCard user to check whether their system has ADS -- tune to a low-numbered channel and check the System Information -> DVR Diagnostics screen. It will tell you whether the channel is analog or digital (fields will say N/A on analog channels).

People who experience this problem (loss of analog tuners) on a regular basis tend to be basic cable subscribers, without CableCards, that do the majority of their recording from analog channels, with relatively infrequent recording from QAM and ATSC (OTA) channels.

People with basic cable (without a CableCard) who do a lot of recording from digital (ATSC or QAM) channels tend not to see this issue much. That's because tuning to a digital channel restores the analog tuners. If your analog tuners went out mid-day, but your box was scheduled to record a digital channel at 8pm, then that would restore the analog tuners for a [analog] channel at 9pm.

For existing TivoHD users with basic cable, there is a trick to greatly minimize the loss of analog tuners. First, disable Suggestions under Settings -> Recording -> TiVo Suggestions. Then create two repeating (daily), one-minute manual recordings on different ATSC or QAM channels (i.e. one on each tuner) at some point before scheduled recordings on analog channels. This is done to put the TiVo's tuners on digital channels, because (a) the analog tuners will never "go out" when the TiVo is tuned to digital channels, and (b) if the analog tuners are out, tuning to a digital channel will restore them. The analog tuners appear to "go out" after they are tuned to an analog channel for 8-12 hours, but if your TiVo is tuned to digital channels most of the time, this rarely happens.

Once TiVo addresses this issue in a software update -- hopefully in the near future -- such "tricks" will be unnecessary.

Good suggestion, but if you have analog cable (no digital cable, no cable cards, no cable box), how do you tune to a digital channel?Virtually every cable provider offers HD locals "in the clear" (unencrypted).

Perform a channel scan under Settings -> Channels -> Channel Scan to add "Clear QAM" channels like the HD locals. Once you've performed a channel scan, press ENTER in the guide to show "All Channels." With some providers, the unencrypted local HD channels may appear on numbers like 2-1, 4-1, 5-1, 7-1, etc after a channel scan. With other providers, the local HD channels will be on numbers like 98-2, 104-3, 110-4, etc. It may take some trial and error to find what numbers are used for the HD locals on your cable system.

Identify which QAM channels correspond to your HD locals and then enable (check) them under Settings -> Channels -> Channels List. After you've enabled (checked) the QAM channels you want, press ENTER in the guide to switch back to "Channels I Receive" or "Favorites." These channels won't have guide data, but you can still add them to your lineup and create manual recordings on them.

Once you've added (checked) two or more of these channels to your lineup, you can create a manual recording on them under Find Programs -> Record by Time or Channel -> Set Up Manual Recording. As a shortcut, simply press '7' from the TiVo menu.