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Bolt abruptly changes channel without warning

816 views 19 replies 6 participants last post by  pgoelz 
#1 ·
Is this something new? I'm running the latest non-Hydra version and twice now, our Bolt has abruptly changed the channel to record a show...... without any warning at all. I am aware that if all tuners are in use including the one being used for live viewing and it needs to record something, it has to do.... something. But it is supposed to put up a warning and ask what to do, right?

I believe this only happens when all four tuners are in use (including the one I am watching) and I THINK it only happens if I am watching some portion of the buffer vs. watching totally live. It is VERY annoying because when it changes the channel it wipes out the buffer so when I re-tune to the channel I was watching, I have jumped ahead to real time and lost whatever was in the buffer.

Just curious.... I'm not going to bother to call Tivo on this since they will just tell me to re-boot, force a connection, etc.

Paul
 
#2 · (Edited)
Just curious.... I'm not going to bother to call Tivo on this since they will just tell me to re-boot, force a connection, etc.

Paul
OK, continuation of the story in case anyone else finds this thread trying to research this issue......

It did it again about an hour ago. This time I was paying closer attention and I think I know what is happening.

1. Watch a live program while recording three other shows on other channels. In other words, all four tuners are in use with one dedicated to the live program.

2. Pause that live program for (say) 20 minutes and then resume watching the live program (now buffered).

3. While watching the buffered live program, the buffered program ends in real time. This apparently frees up the tuner in spite of the fact that the buffer is still playing.

4. While still watching the buffered program, if the Tivo needs to begin a scheduled recording on a different channel it will use the now freed tuner. So far, so good. However, in this case it does not give any warning.... it just abruptly changes the channel. Again, so far, so good. But.... the channel change apparently also dumps the buffer even though you are currently watching it so the result is that you get cut off without any warning as soon as the channel changes.

Expected behavior IMO would be to warn the user ANY time the channel needs to change for ANY reason, and allow the user to decide whether or not to cancel the channel change and thus retain the buffer.

Armed with this additional information, and against my better judgement, I called Tivo support in an attempt to report the apparent bug. Boy was that a waste of time. After clearly and concisely describing the issue.... three times..... and getting very scrambled read backs, I thought I at least got the support rep to understand the issue. Wrong. He went away for a while, then came back and told me that the only time the Tivo would put up a warning was if it was about to begin a recording on the same channel. He insisted that if it needed to change the channel it would not warn. And here's the irony..... while we were discussing this bit of mis-information it put up the very "about to change channel" warning that he insisted it would not put up ;) I assume I got the warning this time around because I was watching live TV without buffering.

At that point, I asked for a supervisor. Once again, it took a couple tries to get her to understand the issue, only to have her tell me the same thing.... that it would not warn about changing the channel unless I was watching the channel it needed to.... change.... to. She then started to descend down the "force a connection, reboot, replace the Tivo" rabbit hole, which I refused to go along with.

What a disaster of a company! The only way to contact them is through their offshore tech support and there doesn't seem to be any way to report an actual software issue.... assuming you can get them to understand the issue in the first place.

Paul
 
#4 ·
I respectfully disagree.... unless the buffered program has ended in real time, it HAS to provide the warning because if it changes channels before the buffered program ends it will cease filling the buffer and cause you to lose the end of the buffered program. Even if it does not actually dump the buffer.

It would seem simplest to me if it always warns about an impending channel change but I do agree that if the buffer includes the end of a buffered program, the warning is perhaps moot.

Paul
 
#9 ·
OK, I Emailed Tivo and referenced this thread. They just responded by sending me three "helpful" articles.... one on Emergency Alert messages interrupting a recording, one on troubleshooting recording conflicts and the last one on troubleshooting why the beginning or end of a program was cut off. In other words, they completely and utterly missed the point that this is an issue with their software, not a user issue.

So I guess this will never get fixed. They either can't or won't understand that it is not a user issue.... it is their crappy software. I did my best but there does not seem to be ANY path to anyone who can actually understand a mildly complex issue. Just script readers.

Paul
 
#10 ·
There's one buffer per tuner. If a channel is on another tuner, and you change to that channel, you inherit the buffer. Without a Mini or restart, there are four buffers with four different channels. I have seen warning messages, but only on a Mini. Maybe that broke?
Just to recap, there are channel change warning messages, but only if you are watching unbuffered live TV. As far as I can tell, there are no warnings if you have paused live TV and are now watching the buffer if the program has ended in real time and the Tivo needs the tuner.

Paul
 
#11 ·
Just to recap, there are channel change warning messages, but only if you are watching unbuffered live TV. As far as I can tell, there are no warnings if you have paused live TV and are now watching the buffer if the program has ended in real time and the Tivo needs the tuner.
Paul
Here's what I do, which is totally not required. I have two TiVo units. One records NBC, CBS, Comedy Central and whatever I'm currently watching. The other unit records ABC, TNT, and everything else. It's rare, very rare, that my TiVo has to change channels to record programs. I know it sounds stupid, but I never see a channel change message, and I only use my Mini units during the day when nothing is recording.

I use the term real time TV since watching TV is always buffered. If I'm on a channel that has a scheduled recording start, there is a brief "glitch" when recording starts and the tuner has to move that buffer. Otherwise I never know when a recording starts unless I check the tuners. I seldom watch the buffer, but it's a great tool.
 
#12 ·
So in effect you have eight tuners. I can understand how you would never see a channel change warning ;) I rarely see one and I only have four tuners.

Every time I get pissed at Tivo I consider switching to a PC and cable card tuner. Maybe one of these days I'll actually try that route. Silicon Dust seems to have an interesting approach.... but only three tuners on the device that can take a cable card.

Paul
 
#13 ·
Every time I get pissed at Tivo I consider switching to a PC and cable card tuner. Maybe one of these days I'll actually try that route. Silicon Dust seems to have an interesting approach.... but only three tuners on the device that can take a cable card.
And they still can't record DRM protected content right? Not sure if that would be an issue for you.

Scott
 
#16 ·
And just to add a bit more information..... this morning I was watching a buffered live show when the Bolt warned that it needed to change the channel. However, the show was also scheduled to record so in addition to being watched buffered / real time, it was also being recorded. Looks like the only time it fails to warn of an impending channel change is if the show is being watched buffered / real time and is NOT being recorded.

I have not heard back from Tivo after informing them that their "suggestions" in response to my "contact us" Email were completely off the mark.

Paul
 
#19 ·
I was going for the sort of time
Travel angle and thinking about BTTF


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#20 ·
OOPS, I guess it isn't as simple as I thought. I just had it warn of an impending channel change while watching a buffered live program (something it has previously failed to do). The only difference was that the show was was also being recorded.

Paul
 
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