Series 2 DT - Color loss in one tuner.

I had the same problem start after about 4 months. Tivo told me to do the same standard nonsense of unplug/plug it back in. This won't fix anything. It is a hardware issue, I haven't completely isolated it (I'm not a EE or TV tech) but I believe something in the second tuner overheats and so we lose color. The reason rebooting fixed it temporarily is that it gave the 2nd tuner a chance to cool down.

I know it's a heat issue because I took mine apart, including the shielding for the 2nd tuner. Leaving the cover off and having a fan blowing on the board, I had perfect color for the last few weeks. I finally decided to put it back together and see what happened, within 3 hours I was back to the mostly no color with the 2nd tuner. I think it is really an issue that any normal TV tech could solve but I don't know. Let me know if you find out what the exact problem is or if you get it fixed.

 

A possible suggestion would be to improve the TiVo's ventilation and see what happens. A more powerful fan, a second fan outside the unit with a separate power supply, even a cooling unit meant for a laptop.

I know, you shouldn't have to do this, but until TiVo admits it's a known problem and comes up with a solution, these ideas should help.

By the way...

What got you to reply to a post over a month old?

 

After I put my tivo back together and started getting the color loss again, I did a quick search on google to see if anyone had come up with anything and found this post. I knew it was old but I also knew that some others have this problem too so I thought I would share my (minor) findings.

If anyone is a TV tech and has any input on how the tuner itself may relate to the color loss problem, here are the numbers from the 2nd tuner in my tivo.

Exterior Sticker:
SAMSUNG
TCPN9082PC26T
060904 LBT

Sanyo Chip:
LA75676
6PYF

Texas Instruments Chip:
B1678
68K
A5RE

I wasn't able to find a datasheet on the TI chip but I did find the one for the Sanyo chip. I also believe the Sanyo chip is probably the most important in relation to dealing with video control. Again, I am not a tech, but this seems like the most logical direction for finding the problem to me.

I tried to post a link to the datasheet but the system won't let me add any links until I have 5 posts. I sent it to you via PM if you are interested, and feel free to add it to this thread if you want.

 

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Sorry to resurrect such an old thread but did anyone ever find a solution for this issue?

Thanks.