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"Channel Not Available" Question

Discussion in 'TiVo Series3 HDTV DVRs' started by MirclMax, Oct 5, 2007.

  1. Oct 5, 2007 #1 of 5
    MirclMax

    MirclMax Ancient Member

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    Jul 12, 2000
    Was wondering if any of you had any insight into this ...

    When you tune to a channel, and it says "Channel Not Available" (TiVo message at the bottom of the screen) .. Is that a function of nothing being broadcast by the cable company, or is it what TiVo will say if it has no knowledge of a channel existing on that number?

    The reason I ask, is that I've read in places that my cable co has been activating TBS-HD for the playoff games .. but obviously, its not in the guide .. and since its not "officially" added.. I don't expect to see a lineup change anytime soon... Even if it *is* live, if TiVo isn't aware of it, will I ge the "Channel Not Available" .. or if you tune to a channel that TiVo knows nothing about, and there is a signal.. will it show you the signal?

    Hope that made sense.

    -MirclMax
     
  2. Oct 5, 2007 #2 of 5
    flightrisk

    flightrisk New Member

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    Jul 25, 2001
    I think this means that the channel isn't actually broadcast.

    In my example, I have CableCards. TBS-HD was added as 220, but Tivo program guide doesn't know about it. If I look at the cable channels list, 220 is available. I can tune 220. I can add it to my channels. I believe the reason this works is the CableCard knows 220 is an available channel even if Tivo doesn't.

    On the other hand, Tivo mistakenly has 221 in the program guide as A&EHD. If I tune to 221, I get the "Channel is not available."
     
  3. Oct 5, 2007 #3 of 5
    MirclMax

    MirclMax Ancient Member

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    That's odd... I guess it means that the people I see reporting the channel going active are full of it ... or for some reason its just not making it to my cablecard(s). (And no, they haven't deployed SDV) ..
     
  4. Oct 5, 2007 #4 of 5
    MirclMax

    MirclMax Ancient Member

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    Jul 12, 2000
    Update (for any that care) ... I noticed a crawl on the SD TBS channel advertising the new HD channel .. so I figured that it was "official" .. (It didn't seem right to complain if they were just testing it or opening it up at times) ... but since I still am not receiving it, I called in ...

    First tech told me that the channel didn't work with TiVos. (I'm fearing SDV) .. Trying to nail him down on this, I had him transfer me to a more senior engineer ... he was explaining to me that it was apparently something about TiVo's .. they've been told not to schedule truck rolls about it .. As this would be their first SDV channel, I work very hard to nail him down to this ... as if it were the case, I would accept that the TiVo (currently) could not access it .. and that would be fine .. if it were not SDV, and they were still saying it was TiVo's problem.. I wanted to get TiVo involved.

    The guy says that he's not actually sure they've deployed SDV (after saying a couple of times that it was an SDV channel) .. puts me on hold ... apparently reads through some e-mails ... comes back and does a complete 180 and says that the NOC is aware of this, its a problem on their side .. something about the signal is incompatible and they are working on a firmware upgrade (I think that's what he said their plan was) ..

    The notices that went out to their customer support people actually included another channel that they just launched this week.. and oddly enough, that one comes in just fine.

    If my team had made it to the playoffs, I'd be *really* annoyed .. as it stands.. its just one of those minor annoyances with new tech ... Wish there was a way to encourage them to work harder on it.

    -MirclMax
     
  5. Oct 5, 2007 #5 of 5
    windracer

    windracer joined the 10k club

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    St. Pete, FL
    I was having the same problem with TBS-HD (Brighthouse Networks, St. Pete, FL).

    I knew it went live on Monday because a buddy at work with a BHN DVR was able to pick up the channel. When I tuned my S3 to ch 726 though (SA CableCARDs) I got the "channel not available" and "????" up where the call letters would be in the channel banner.

    So I figured I couldn't tune to that channel because it wasn't in "channels I receive." I submitted a lineup change to TiVo on Tuesday.

    Last night, I had a message on my S3 saying TBS-HD had been added to my lineup, but I still got the "channel not available" message. I started thinking SDV too.

    Then tonight, it worked. So I guess there was still some programming on BHN's side that was going on.
     

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