Time Warner Cable Tuning Adapter (ALL LOCATIONS) / Bugs & Issues

[Stormspace]

Originally Posted by aine

I am watching this thread to decide whether to endure the apparent pain of getting a Tuning Adapter here in San Diego.

Tonight when I flipped on Channel 68 (Comedy Central) it's black -- "searching for signal, etc." I went over to 60 after reading this post -- same thing. Did I just lose an analog channel? Do I need a tuning adapter to receive what I thought was an analog channel? I'm worried that the TA is going to screw up the relative reliability of my TiVo HD. But I gotta watch Jon Stewart!!

It's at a point now where the only 100% reliable way to get SDV channels is to use the cable STB. I frequently lose connection to channels even with the TA.

I feel like the TiVos I own are just expensive buggy whips that won't work by this time next year.

[Grumock]

Originally Posted by aine

I am watching this thread to decide whether to endure the apparent pain of getting a Tuning Adapter here in San Diego.

Tonight when I flipped on Channel 68 (Comedy Central) it's black -- "searching for signal, etc." I went over to 60 after reading this post -- same thing. Did I just lose an analog channel? Do I need a tuning adapter to receive what I thought was an analog channel? I'm worried that the TA is going to screw up the relative reliability of my TiVo HD. But I gotta watch Jon Stewart!!

In many markets SDV channels are also analog.

[SCSIRAID]

Originally Posted by Grumock

In many markets SDV channels are also analog.

Did you mean to say 'also have an analog version'? Some digital simulcast versions of analog channels are being done via SDV.

[SCSIRAID]

Originally Posted by Stormspace

It's at a point now where the only 100% reliable way to get SDV channels is to use the cable STB. I frequently lose connection to channels even with the TA.

I feel like the TiVos I own are just expensive buggy whips that won't work by this time next year.

Using the Cable STB is NOT 100% reliable for SDV. Ive had to reboot my bedroom SA4250 twice in the last week because it couldnt tune SDV channels.

[scottc42]

Originally Posted by SCSIRAID

Using the Cable STB is NOT 100% reliable for SDV. Ive had to reboot my bedroom SA4250 twice in the last week because it couldnt tune SDV channels.

Agreed - I am having better luck with my 2 tuning adapters than with my TW stb.

[Grumock]

Originally Posted by SCSIRAID

Did you mean to say 'also have an analog version'? Some digital simulcast versions of analog channels are being done via SDV.

Well Yes & no. Sorry. Even though i dont watch it, I know that for instance in my area, channel 40 (Fox News) is SDV now.

[shanebowman]

Originally Posted by dlfl

Request connection to the TWC National Cable Card Support Desk. They will most likely fix it in a few minutes or less. The local TWC people frequently don't know what they are doing and can even make things worse. See **this**.

When you talk to the national help desk ask them to please inform the local TWC support people of their existence and phone number (again).

All right so I called and spent an hour on the phone with the CC experts and still have a truck roll scheduled for tomorrow. I guess from here on out we should just get trucks scheduled everytime they update our channel listing since I am evidently not capable to mange the updates..

[shanebowman]

Originally Posted by SCSIRAID

Using the Cable STB is NOT 100% reliable for SDV. Ive had to reboot my bedroom SA4250 twice in the last week because it couldnt tune SDV channels.

So even their standard equipment doesn't work correctly?? That is great!!!

[SCSIRAID]

Originally Posted by shanebowman

Missing newest channels, Tivo says channels not provided by tuning adapter

So I put in a splitter so now I have line going to adapter and separate line going to Tivo. Then I unplugged adapter from wall and Tivo cycled up to steady green light before connecting to Tivo and same issue.

Restarted Tivo = same issue so ran through cycling again, same issue

Went on line and found that TWC has online chat (woo-hoo) and got tech to send refresher hit to adapter, no luck. Tech tells me I have to exchange box or schedule visit.

Any other advice?

Did you do a full power cycle of both TiVo and TA?

[shanebowman]

Originally Posted by SCSIRAID

Did you do a full power cycle of both TiVo and TA?

several times and again today with the cable card folks from TWC, I apologize that is what I am calling restarting the Tivo

[rric31]

My tuning adapter is not even recognized any more. I have had this thing for a few months and had nothing but trouble. I would go through the reboot process every few days and my HD channels would show up--for the most part. Well, that has all come to an end. I have lost all of the SDV and even a few of the other HD channels. When I go through the TIVO settings, the Tuning adapter is not even recognized any more. I have tried to reboot the TIVO, the tuning adapter but no luck.

TIVO and Time Warner Maine have not been a great experience.

Any help would be appreciated.

rich in maine

[Solana_Steve]

Originally Posted by Stormspace

It's at a point now where the only 100% reliable way to get SDV channels is to use the cable STB. I frequently lose connection to channels even with the TA.

I feel like the TiVos I own are just expensive buggy whips that won't work by this time next year.

I am in San Diego and am having the same problem. Comedy Central has moved to 60 from 68. However, I try to update the TiVo Channel Listing and it doesn't effect and channel list changes.

Is there a way to update the channel list manually? I noticed Zap2It also hasn't go the new channel lineup either.

Steve

[Stormspace]

Originally Posted by Solana_Steve

I am in San Diego and am having the same problem. Comedy Central has moved to 60 from 68. However, I try to update the TiVo Channel Listing and it doesn't effect and channel list changes.

Is there a way to update the channel list manually? I noticed Zap2It also hasn't go the new channel lineup either.

Steve

If you know that the issue isn't with the channel line up changing, TiVo has a form online where you can report incorrect guide data.

[jrmints23]

Originally Posted by darkavich

So Time Warner called me back (They are on their way out in the morning). The supervisor that will be coming out claims he knows the exact problem and how to fix it. The statement they made was that the cable cards were not bound correctly. <shrug> not sure why other things would be working fine if that was the case.

But, I am cautiously optimistic.

Were they able to fix the problems you've been having? I'm having the same extremely annoying problem, except sometime restarting the TiVo and cycling the power on the tuning adapter don't give me my missing channels.

[darkavich]

Originally Posted by jrmints23

Were they able to fix the problems you've been having? I'm having the same extremely annoying problem, except sometime restarting the TiVo and cycling the power on the tuning adapter don't give me my missing channels.

Where do you live? The problem has not been fixed, but we now know the exact problem. The problem is a bad repeating/routing device on the line that is blocking the return path of some of the SDV-TV frequencies. When the frequency that is bad is chosen for a given channel it fails. They were able to block some of the frequencies and it fixed the problem, but later the same day a few more frequencies had the same problem.

We had a MAJOR power outage yesterday, so everything lost power for 13 hours (including all the TWC equipment), I am so glad I don't have their phone service... The channels were working yesterday, but that could be due to nobody watching any SDV-TV. They were planning to replace the equipment that was failing, but I do not know if that has been done.

BTW, I had this escalated all the way up to the IT-noc. The field techs had no clue, but one guy knew who to contact.

BTW, Tivo support was no help. They basically told me "it was not their problem and goodbye." I was very disappointed with the person I spoke to.

Anyway, I will post an update soon once I have more information.

[jrmints23]

Originally Posted by darkavich

Where do you live? The problem has not been fixed, but we now know the exact problem. The problem is a bad repeating/routing device on the line that is blocking the return path of some of the SDV-TV frequencies. When the frequency that is bad is chosen for a given channel it fails. They were able to block some of the frequencies and it fixed the problem, but later the same day a few more frequencies had the same problem.

We had a MAJOR power outage yesterday, so everything lost power for 13 hours (including all the TWC equipment), I am so glad I don't have their phone service... The channels were working yesterday, but that could be due to nobody watching any SDV-TV. They were planning to replace the equipment that was failing, but I do not know if that has been done.

BTW, I had this escalated all the way up to the IT-noc. The field techs had no clue, but one guy knew who to contact.

BTW, Tivo support was no help. They basically told me "it was not their problem and goodbye." I was very disappointed with the person I spoke to.

Anyway, I will post an update soon once I have more information.

I live in Greensboro, NC. I had someone on the phone from twc TiVo support who seemed to know what he was doing and told me that my adapter diagnostics were barely in range and that something might be wrong with the cable signal to my house (this would make sense considering I have two tivos with tuning adapters and they both have the same problem. Anyway, this guy then sent some tech to my house who said the diagnostics were perfect so who knows.

[darkavich]

Originally Posted by jrmints23

I live in Greensboro, NC. I had someone on the phone from twc TiVo support who seemed to know what he was doing and told me that my adapter diagnostics were barely in range and that something might be wrong with the cable signal to my house (this would make sense considering I have two tivos with tuning adapters and they both have the same problem. Anyway, this guy then sent some tech to my house who said the diagnostics were perfect so who knows.

I had to have them fixed the signal strength and SNR values. They were WAY high. It didn't solve the TA problem, but it fixed other issues in the house. My problem came back this morning, so it is back to the IT guys to see if they replaced the network equipment yet.

[scottc42]

I recently purchased my 2nd TiVo HD. When it got here I really didn't want to order cable cards right away just for a lack of time available to be here for the appointment, but I did go ahead and order a tuning adapter. I completed the order process online (email request I think), and a couple days later a Time Warner rep called. He said he saw that I ordered a TA, and he wanted to confirm my shipping address. He did a simple rundown of how to install the TA, and then told me to call if I have troubles. Then he said he noticed that I already have a TA and asked if there is anything wrong with that one. I said no... this is for a second TiVo. He asked if I had ordered cable cards yet, and I said no; I mentioned my time concerns. He said he could have a tech out on Saturday afternoon if I wished, so I agreed. I mentioned that my exisiting unit had 2 'S' cards, and I asked if they had the 'M' cards - he said that yes, they are now available, so I scheduled the appointment to have one 'M' card installed and another 'M' card swapped for 2 'S' cards.

Two days later, and the tech is at my house with 2 'M' cards. He makes mention that he does not really know much about cable cards, as they never really get orders for them, but he will try his best. We tackle the new unit first. He is cool with me going through all the menus and getting him to where he needs to be. He wrote down all the cc info before inserting - good thing. He called in and the dispatcher had absolutely no idea what he was talking about... as if never having heard of a cable card. The tech got flipped to a supervisor where he read off the numbers, and 30 seconds later I heard the supervisor say, "okay, it's paired now." I checked everything out, and it worked great. All-in-all, I was up and running in less than 15 minutes.

The next set (the swap) was a little trickier, but worked out overall. By this time a second tech had shown up (I'm far from the office, it was the last job of the day, comraderie in the field...), and he was equally informed about cable cards. They asked me what they are for, and I explained that they are the equivalent of a cable box. Ahhh.... After inserting the new card, he tried to set it up with his laptop. he had direct access to my account, added the new cards, removed the old cards, and removed a stb I was returning. The he paired the new cc right from his computer. Unfortunately he was unable to get the service hit with his computer, so he had to call in for that and got placed on hold for a good 25 minutes. If it wasn't for the wait on the phone, this would have been another 15 minute setup.

Anyway, the guys left, and everything has been working since. Overall I'd say it was a pretty pleasant, although interesting, experience with Time Warner Milwaukee.

If only I could transfer shows now...

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by shanebowman

All right so I called and spent an hour on the phone with the CC experts and still have a truck roll scheduled for tomorrow. I guess from here on out we should just get trucks scheduled everytime they update our channel listing since I am evidently not capable to mange the updates..

This experience would be the exception AFAIK. Are you sure you were connected to the TWC National Cable Card Support desk? One case has been reported in which it appeared the local TWC support people spoofed the NCCS desk with local people. My advice is to ask "is this the national cable card help desk" when you get connected and get the name of the person. There are only 5 people in that group and I know two of their names: Mike and Doraine (sic). It would be nice if we could figure out all five names, then we would be better able to determine whether we are actually talking to the national unit.

It would be interesting to know the exact details of what they did and what they had you do in this case.

[dlfl]

See **this**

They set up a national help desk staffed by 5 people and don't bother to make either TWC or TiVo support people aware of it. Amazing!

[eddieb187]

Since adding a Cisco STA1520 Tuning Adapter, my Tivo HD DVR stops responding to remote control commands and then after a few minutes Restarts.
This occurs every couple of days. Maybe two or three times a week.
I have one SA multi stream Cable Card.
This never happened before the Tuning Adapter.
Anyone else have this issue?

[spassmeister]

My XMAS card to TWC:

Very Disappointed in your customer care

I had about the worst customer care visit ever from one of your expert technicians last month. Not only did his lengthy visit not fix the problem with your cable service, but today, Christmas, I have to go outside my house and fix the cables he needlessly disconnected so that my daughter can watch her new television.

I’m both a residential HD customer and a Business class roadrunner customer. I pay TimeWarner well over $250/month. I have two HD TiVo systems which as you know, by law, TimeWarner is supposed to support. I pay for 4 cable cards to support these, and recently a tuner adapter was added to both. I picked up these Cisco TAs from your office and installed them myself (I think it's a travesty that you charged me to have one of your technicians "install" my cablecareds which was much easier than the tuning adapter).

When the service degraded so severely that I was getting virtually no HD stations, let along expanded cable stations, I contacted Time Warner and went over the problem with your telephone "cablecard/tuning adapter expert". He assured me that there were no issues with the Cisco tuning adapters, so I scheduled a truck roll.

Your service technician came to my home and began measuring the signal directly from the cable connected to my TiVo (not outside at the distribution point) He informed me that I had “tons of signal” and he did not really understand why I had no picture, or how the tuning adapter “thingy” works. He had no new ones (tuning adapters) with him. He then disappeared.

I found him on the side of my home disconnecting every TV from the CATV distribution area of my home. When I asked him what he was doing, he replied “this will help you get more signal”, to which I replied “you told me I have tons of signal, what is the point in what you are doing?” he said “it will help”. Clearly, he had no idea what he was doing. I then told him “you realize that what you are doing now will make absolutely no progress towards fixing the problem you are here to fix”. I did not fix my problem. It made no difference whatsoever.

He left, and still, I still had the same problems with the cable signal, and now (bonus) half the TVs in my house were disconnected. I went online and realized that, in fact, many TWC customers with HD TiVo units with cable cards and tuning adapters have repeating, nagging problems that require constant resets of their Cisco tuning adapters. I power cycled and reset both units and, for a week anyway, it worked fine. Now I need to perform this procedure weekly.

I have concluded that inasmuch as you have no motivation to keep customers such as myself happy, you will put us through these issue and provide us with pathetic (in reality counterproductive as I not only had to fix the issue myself, but had to more work to re-connect the cables your technician disconnected).

I intent to contact both my local congressman as well as the FCC to inform them of how TimeWarner chooses to deal with simple regulatory issues and abide by the law. Of course, I’m also looking at what alternatives I have (AT&T UVerse)

Merry Christmas

[shanebowman]

Originally Posted by dlfl

This experience would be the exception AFAIK. Are you sure you were connected to the TWC National Cable Card Support desk? One case has been reported in which it appeared the local TWC support people spoofed the NCCS desk with local people. My advice is to ask "is this the national cable card help desk" when you get connected and get the name of the person. There are only 5 people in that group and I know two of their names: Mike and Doraine (sic). It would be nice if we could figure out all five names, then we would be better able to determine whether we are actually talking to the national unit.

It would be interesting to know the exact details of what they did and what they had you do in this case.

They ran through the normal series of tests before transferring me and she answered as the NCCS desk. She (forgot her name) also was very familiar with the Tivo screens as in knowing that she wanted to skip the test channels option on the cable card menu and asking during reboot of the Tivo if the screen had changed yet on the "a few minutes more" screen. So if they were spoofing me they were better informed than any of the other techs I have gotten since my adventures began. I have had a Series 3 since about three months after roll out and in fact am on my second as the first one's HD died.

Long to short, she wasn't much help as she scheduled a visit after verifying the channels had been pushed out. Two visits, two more cable cards and a new tuning adapter with the techs (yes plural he brought help on the second visit) communicating with the NCCS the whole time it was established that they had not pushed out the channels and an email would be sent. Sat. evening lost use of TA rebooted three times both TA and Tivo following the directions included in posts before and we now have all but 2 of the channels, so we will call it a push.

[fritolayguy]

Originally Posted by scottc42

Anyway, the guys left, and everything has been working since. Overall I'd say it was a pretty pleasant, although interesting, experience with Time Warner Milwaukee.

If only I could transfer shows now...

As someone that has been through multiple cc installations, I look through these forums regularly for others' experiences. Nice to know that others have had success with TWC (KC for me) as well. Most Time Warner threads are tough to read through for all the horror stories.

Except for my original install back in 2005 from Mediacom in Springfield, MO. and one CSR that was not familiar with cable cards, all of my experiences have been very pleasant.

I have also had very good experiences with both TWC SDV TA's for my Series 3 and my HD unit....

I concur about show transfers....

[inahaz]

This may help others (I'm certain this is not new for several tech folks on this board). I have 2 TivoHD's with TA's. (1 M card in each). The last couple months, I've had the 8-blink pause sequence and have had to call to have the boxes hit.

This last time took 3 calls. I typically bail when they say they need to schedule a truck roll and call back later. (2 months ago, they scheduled a truck roll and the guy merely called the office and had the boxes hit.)

I've found there are some CSR's who confuse TA's with Cable Cards. They appear to be sending the signal to pair the Cable Cards rather than the TA signal. This is the point where they sometimes just move to scheduling the truck. Today, I had a CSR who knew about the National CC Line and connected me (he had sent the CC hit rather than the TA hit and acknowledged he didn't know there was a difference). The lady told me the term "pairing" is a Cable Card related term. The Cards are paired to the Tivos. TA's aren't paired with anything.

So, the point of my post is, if you are calling a local TWC office and someone thinks they are following the manual and sending the right code, ask if they are sending the TA code or the Cable Card Code, then try to get them to connect you to the National CC line.

[bobrt6676]

Since I post negative experiences I thought I would give Props when due.
Got home tonight, 8 blinking stinking lights on my TA!! After dinner I prepare myself for a lenghthy call. I state " I have a TA problem are you familiar with them." Sure I can help you with that. He asks for the last 4 letters of the SN. He sends a hit and INSTANTLY my SDV stations are back.
Total CR time approx 1 min. No hesitation, No rebooting, No transfers, No truck roll, just instant results!!!!

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by bobrt6676

Since I post negative experiences I thought I would give Props when due.
Got home tonight, 8 blinking stinking lights on my TA!! After dinner I prepare myself for a lenghthy call. I state " I have a TA problem are you familiar with them." Sure I can help you with that. He asks for the last 4 letters of the SN. He sends a hit and INSTANTLY my SDV stations are back.
Total CR time approx 1 min. No hesitation, No rebooting, No transfers, No truck roll, just instant results!!!!

Well now we know there are at least two CSR's in TWC SW Ohio that know what they are doing, because I had a very similar experience a while back and it was a "she". Unfortunately the other two occasions I called with the same problem all they could do was schedule a truck roll and I ended up having to go thrugh TiVo support to get to the TWC National Cable Card Support desk, which fixed it quickly.

[gbronzer]

I had a TA problem recently after it got a firmware update. Tivo saw it, but it wouldn't tune any SDV channels. It was very similar to the 8 blink problem. They scheduled a service call, but the tech called me before arriving and asked, "Have you tried pressing the power button?"

Turns out the button on the front that used to do nothing is now functional and the stupid thing defaults to off. So it blinks a bunch of times, goes off, but if you press the button, the light comes on and it tunes fine.

What a stupid firmware update.

[SCSIRAID]

Originally Posted by gbronzer

I had a TA problem recently after it got a firmware update. Tivo saw it, but it wouldn't tune any SDV channels. It was very similar to the 8 blink problem. They scheduled a service call, but the tech called me before arriving and asked, "Have you tried pressing the power button?"

Turns out the button on the front that used to do nothing is now functional and the stupid thing defaults to off. So it blinks a bunch of times, goes off, but if you press the button, the light comes on and it tunes fine.

What a stupid firmware update.

What is the version number of your TA Firmware?

[dlfl]

Originally Posted by gbronzer

I had a TA problem recently after it got a firmware update. Tivo saw it, but it wouldn't tune any SDV channels. It was very similar to the 8 blink problem. They scheduled a service call, but the tech called me before arriving and asked, "Have you tried pressing the power button?"

Turns out the button on the front that used to do nothing is now functional and the stupid thing defaults to off. So it blinks a bunch of times, goes off, but if you press the button, the light comes on and it tunes fine.

What a stupid firmware update.

I don't think that's a firmware revision issue. I have .0801 firmware (not a new revision) and I've seen this same behavior. If you power cycle the TA the light will sometimes blink for a while then go out completely, then you have to press the front panel power button. Other times it will not need this. Go figure.

What is your firmware revision after the update?