New TivoHD issue?

travisc77 · 08-23-2007, 01:07 PM

My TivoHD box is connected to TW cable in Corpus Christi TX with SA cable cards. For the last couple of weeks it's had the pixelation issue, but I must say it doesn't appear as bad as some others have indicated, in fact on some HD channels it doesn't happen at all.

Back to the new issue, it seems sometime during this week my TivoHD reports no or very low signal when tuning to channels 1-99, sometimes they appear for a few seconds then freeze (with pixelation) then the message appears. Sometimes they don't tune at all before the message appears. This happens when trying either tuner, but doesn't happen at all for the digital channels or the HD channels, only channels 1-99.

My signal was tested at this outlet when the cards were installed and he said it was perfect, and this didn't appear for the few couple of weeks. Anybody else having a similar issue? Any thoughts on this issue?

GoHokies! · 08-23-2007, 02:43 PM

It's possible that you had ADS before and it got disabled, so now you are tuning the analog versions of your 1-99 channels.

travisc77 · 08-23-2007, 04:51 PM

Is there something I can do to check to see if this is the case? Should I call TW?

GoHokies! · 08-23-2007, 06:39 PM

When you record a show on channels 1-99 are you asked to specify the recording quality? Can you remember if you used to? If you are asked to specify the recording quality, then you're watching an analog channel (if not, it's digital). Going from the digital to analog version of the channel could be the cause of your problems.

chazas · 08-23-2007, 06:43 PM

I was getting that kind of variation on the analog channels I was receiving before I got my cablecards installed - sounds like a possible culprit.

travisc77 · 08-24-2007, 12:02 PM

It seems to be that I'm loosing the digital signal for channels 5-20. It also seems to come and go. Last night they worked fine and showed signal strength of 87%, my S3 shows 94% in the next room. Then some time during the night the digital stream for these channels is gone, zero.

Seems weird, and also seems weird that the S3 is not affected.

travisc77 · 08-25-2007, 10:05 AM

Another update, when channels 4-20 lose their signal, a manual restart will bring the channel signal for these channels back for a while. This leads me to believe that maybe it's not actually a signal issue, but maybe the cable card or THD reading the signal.

BetaEleven · 08-30-2007, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chazas

I was getting that kind of variation on the analog channels I was receiving before I got my cablecards installed - sounds like a possible culprit.

This is the problem I'm having right now. I just got my Tivo HD yesterday. I don't even have any CableCARDs installed, yet (Comcast's 1st available opening was the 11th - go figure). It initially seemed to work fine when I first went through set up - except changing channels seemed slow. However, I came home from work this evening, and I turned to Live TV, and I had a gray screen. I switched channels. Gray screen. I would occasionally get a "Searching for signal..." banner on the bottom, and then gray screen. I unplugged the Tivo and started over. Now, it's back to how it was yesterday, with slow changing channels.

What gives?

dkwong · 08-30-2007, 08:22 PM

How funny, I started having a similar problem last night. I've had my TivoHD for a few days now and still awaiting cable cards, so I have it set up for analog cable and OTA. It's been running fine, but then last night, watching live TV caused it to hang and stutter. The UI was functional as I could change channels and access all the menus. Watching recorded shows was fine too. It was just live TV that didn't work. I know it's not a cable problem because my TV could tune into those channels fine. I did a reset of my Tivo HD and the problem went away.

travisc77 · 08-31-2007, 09:24 AM

I'm glad you guys started posting on this, I planned on re-energizing this topic as I just confirmed a restart of the Tivo brings my channels 4-20 back. They will work most of the day, then 10-12 hours later they go away. But what is really weird is that they consistently come back with a restart. My questions are...

1. What happens during a reboot to the cable cards? Do they reset or reboot themselves?

2. What happens in the Tivo during a restart that would affect a digital signal? Does the tuner do anything different after a restart?

3. Does anyone believe this is just a severe case of pixelation/macroblocking? The channels do appear to be pixelating before they completely go away.

Thanks for the input.

vchan168 · 08-31-2007, 10:48 AM

I guess I can related to this issue too.

I have FIOS TV with TiVo HD with 2 motorola cablecard, all the channels above 49, it is solid, very clear, no breaking up.
but from time to time, channel 1-49, it is breaking up alot, it is unwatchable. at time, the signal is at 100% solid, but at time, it was all over the place. it just doesn't make much sense.

I really don't know what the problem is really, but I have 2 other TV in the house just using normal cable, and it looks fine to me. so I am thinking it might be TiVo HD or the cablecard

dkwong · 08-31-2007, 12:51 PM

Well, considering that neither I nor BetaEleven have cable cards yet, I think we can rule that out as the source of the problem.

BetaEleven · 09-03-2007, 02:42 PM

I just had to reboot my Tivo again this afternoon. I turned it on, and had no signal. This can't be right.

bkdtv · 09-03-2007, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vchan168

I have FIOS TV with TiVo HD with 2 motorola cablecard, all the channels above 49, it is solid, very clear, no breaking up.
but from time to time, channel 1-49, it is breaking up alot, it is unwatchable. at time, the signal is at 100% solid, but at time, it was all over the place. it just doesn't make much sense.

The signal from the ONT could be too strong on that frequency band. The output from the ONT isn't 100% linear. And the output from splitters and attenuators certainly isn't linear. You may need to try a different splitter or add an attenuator to reduce your signal strength.

Quote:

I really don't know what the problem is really, but I have 2 other TV in the house just using normal cable, and it looks fine to me. so I am thinking it might be TiVo HD or the cablecard

It's not your Tivo or the CableCard. It's the Tivo's sensitivity to signals that are too low or too high. Since you are seeing 100% reported signal strength, your signal could be too strong.

My FiOS signal strength is 95-96% with a 35dB SNR. No breakup or pixelization on any channel with my TivoHD in DC/VA.

travisc77 · 09-06-2007, 12:40 AM

I'll bump this thread and report back in the next day or so since Tivo has released an update. Hopefully this issue will be resolved.

travisc77 · 09-06-2007, 08:41 AM

FYI

Well, since the update the pixelation is virtually gone, about an hour watching live TV this morning and zero pixelation.

I'm still not convinced on the disappearing signal on channels 4-20, I rebooted after the update last night and kept it on channel 12 all night and this morning. So far so good, but it will take several days to confirm this issue is gone.

Travis

travisc77 · 09-07-2007, 10:00 AM

Unfortunately I woke up this morning and didn't have a signal again. The weird thing is channel 11 shows up, but 4-10 and 12-20 are still out. Before it was 4-20. So I rebooted and viola all channels show up. There have never been this issue with any other channels, including HD.

I had previously had minor pixelation on all channels, I can report that after watching several hours it's totally gone, that part is very good. I'm still not sure what's going on with losing these channels, especially considering the S3 doesn't do this and a reboot fixes.

I guess this weekend I'll troubleshoot a little, maybe switch with the S3 to see if the S3 has the same issues in the same room, or ifthe THD has the same issues where the S3 was. If it is a cable card issue, why would a restart of the THD make it go away? I'm just not sure how cable cards work and if restarting the THD does anything with them.

KeithRos · 09-07-2007, 10:35 PM

I have Comcast in Chicago area and with an M Cable card, I am missing about 60-70% of the 1-99 channels. I can't get channel 2, but get 3 & 4, then nothing until 13, then 18, etc. I checked channel 4 and it is digital (no recording quality choices), and signal strength is around 50. I get all premium channels, HBO and HD, but not all the lower channels. I have spent a couple hours on the phone with Comcast and two visits by techs. I even got Tivo to send me a new box and it still doesn't work right. I am at a loss as to what to check next.

travisc77 · 09-10-2007, 09:04 AM

Well, it appears the problem repeats itself in different rooms. I still haven't tried relocating the S3 to one of those rooms to see if it is effected, maybe next weekend. This is a weird issue, this barely happened last Wed-Sat, and a restart would bring the channels back for 1-2 days. Then on Sunday during testing, the channels would disappear about every hour. Once again the reboot would bring them back.

I usually don't get that worked up over these things, so I will continue testing. I've past my 30 days for a CC return, so any issue would have to be dealt with Tivo. I just don't think this issue looks like a broken Tivo issue. Why would everything else work so well if that were the case. This just feels like a slight sensitivity issue with the tuner? Maybe something funky going on in the attic with the TWC booster? I'm just not sure, I'll keep testing, if anybody hears about this issue please let me know.

Thanks
Travis

travisc77 · 09-19-2007, 08:46 PM

It's been a while so I figured I would bump the thread. Is anybody else having a similar problem?

Just to summarize, here are a few notes on the subject:
- The channels I'm having problems with are 4-20. The channels appear for a few days, then at some point Tivo says there is no signal. A reboot fixes the channels and they reappear, usually for a couple of days.
- This does not happen on the S3, just the HD. The signal meter shows ~92 for all channels. But for some reason you cannot tune to channels 4-20 on the signal meter screen. This is the case for the S3 & HD, but the HD never looses those channels.
- I have Time Warner Cable with SA cable cards.
- I had a truck roll to check the signals, and have tried replacing the S3 & HD to see if the S3 has the same issues, and it doesn't. The HD also has the issues in multiple rooms.

It seems to me, and I'm no expert, but maybe the HD's tuner is very sensitive and signal variance will loose the channel and for some reason even if the signal returns the channel will not be displayed unless a reboot happens. I know this seems to happen if you unplug the cable on the HD, then reconnect and the channels do not return. But a reboot will return all the channels.

Any insight to this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Travis