out of town recording on only 1 cablecard

You should be able to do this by taking out the card in slot 2 and re-running guided set-up with only 1 card installed. This will, in effect, make your Tivo a single-tuner. Then you can deal with the second cable card when you come back.

 

A couple of days ago, cablecard 2 in my S3 stopped being able to tune any of the encrypted digital channels--I just get the gray screen on any digital channels except the network HD channels. Cablecard 1 is OK. Since I had recordings scheduled on a couple of the encrypted channels, before the scheduled recording time I tuned the "good" S3 tuner to that channel and the "bad" tuner to one of the network channels. The S3 recorded the scheduled programs using the good cablecard. Very inconvenient, but seems to work until I can get a replacement cablecard 2. (Of course, this won't work if you are out of town.)

 

I'm also getting by right now with 1 good cablecard. CC#2 is broken (error 161-1) and Cox refuses to let me pickup a replacement CC myself so have to wait until earliest appointment on Thursday. Before I leave the S3 with bad CC alone I make sure the tuner associated with bad CC (tuner 0 in my case) is the foreground tuner since Tivo will use the background tuner first (in case you are watching live tv on foreground tuner). That ensures that as long as there is only 1 recording at a time the good CC will be used for recordings.

Also by having a bad CC I was able to confirm for sure that unencrypted channels bypass the CC completely since those still tune in fine on tuner 0 (associated with broken CC#2).

 

I'm having a problem with TWCNYC and card #2, myself. For me, it's *all* encrypted programming that isn't being received on that card, and it's pretty clear that it's simply due to a loss of authorization for that card on the TWC account management system. Somehow, they lost that card in their system, and any "mirroring" of card 1 authorization to card 2 just spontaneously disappeared.

Knowing this hasn't stopped us from going through 6 weeks of uselessness, 5 truck rolls and more than 30 calls, of course.

The problem still hasn't been resolved, BTW.

 

I happened to be bouncing around in live TV one afternoon, and landed on some grey screens. Narrowed it down to card 2. Tried popping it out and back in, and no dice. So right before I tried calling Comcast, I rebooted the Tivo.

And the card came back! No problems for a week now.

So have you tried a reboot?

 

Update: In my case, rebooting the TiVo did not restore the functioning of cablecard 2. I called Comcast, expecting to get someone who could send a "hit" to the card. Instead, the CSR said that they no longer allowed self-install of cards (as they had in my location when I installed the cards late last year). I scheduled a service call, the tech came and phoned for a "hit", and the card worked again. (He said that cablecards losing authentication was fairly common.) A real waste of Comcast's resources when a simple phone call by me would have done the job. I'm hoping that the original CSR was simply clueless about cablecards, rather than local Comcast actually having changed their policy about self-installs.

 

I just received my New Tivo HD box, and I have experienced both problems described in this thread.

• Day 1 - I too had to wait a week for the cable appt. The installer was knowledgeable and had one one other install (Series 3). But what we found was that the unit had a bad slot 2 Error 161-2. After only 10 seconds on the phone with TIVO customer support, they told me I needed a new unit. Which was shipped next day delivery. The installer was kind enough to leave both cablecards.
  
  Surprised that TIVO shipped a bad product!

• Day 2 - As soon as the the new unit arrived I rushed to set up and install. The first cablecard (slot 1 from the previous day) worked great. All channels Digital, Local HD, premium (HBO), and HD package( Discovery) worked fine. I was feeling great. The I installed the second card, which we knew was working because we tried both cards the previous day. When TIVO finally booted, no Premium or HD package channels. On the phone with my Cable provider, WOW and the previous' days installer, was not successful. I got yelled at by the phone rep for touching the cable cards.

• Day - 3 New cable installer arrived at 8:00 pm, and stayed until 10:00 (pm) wife pissed (No high school musical recording). I was not home. I tried the unit immediately when I arrived at midnight, and still no premium or HD package channels (gray screen).

So far in this ordeal:
installers

Tivo for shipping bad unit

WOW (Wide Open West) Customer Service reps and appt availability.

I plan to call the installer from Day 3, who offered to return today (Saturday). If the issue is resolved, I will post the solution.

Markwri

 

Day 4 - Monday (Installer did not return call on Saturday)

New installer (#3) spent 2.5 hours at the house. Again I was not home, the installer couldn't solve the problem so he re-wired the coaxial. He replaced all the splitters and he ran a new wire from the pole to the house. Again did not work, personally I would not have tried that, the signal strength (as indicated by TIVO unit was great). So not the best use of time. The installer left without the second slot showing non local HD and premium channels.

Issue Solved:
Later that evening, I decided to try myself. Here's what I did:

• a) Removed the working card from Slot 1.

• b) Moved the non working card in slot 2 into slot 1.

• c) Rebooted TIVO. (still did not work.) .

• d) Called the cable company asked them to re-zap the card make sure you confirm the host #s.

• e) Rebooted TIVO the card started to work. (all HD and premium channels).

• f) Inserted the original card in slot 1 into slot 2.

• g) Rebooted TIVO.

• h) Both cards now work fine.

It's my opinion that the problem is with the TIVO box. Specifically, when two cards are inserted, the unit prevents (perhaps timesout) the entire programming signal from the cable company to reach the card in slot 2. It's getting truncated. Once I put the card in slot 1 (and it was the only card) it worked just fine.

Hope this helps. Good luck! Now to fix the pixelation and sound drops!

Markwri

 

There's no problem with the Tivo box. What fixed your problem was Day 4 step (d) above.

(P.S. There is no "programming signal" that goes to the card)