Time Warner tuning adapter stability

I'm already seeing issues with the 2 that I got.

1) Dropped channel while watching it
2) Tried to tune a channel to get a black screen, but not error messages or other
3) One of them went blinking tonight and although it's back to a solid green; after 2 restarts and calling TW to "hit" the boxes again. It won't tune the SDV channels ( i'm getting the ondemand previews instead)

 

It really depends on your Time Warner. I've had no problems, but there are a lot of problems reported here even considering that most people without problems aren't posting. That said, Time Warner isn't charging for them in most places so hook one up and see what happens. If it glitches and the SDV channels aren't worth the hassle, unhook it.

 

I have TWC in central NY. The problem I have is that if you have one of the tuners on a SDV channel for a long time and you try to change the channel on the other tuner the TIVO will lock up. None of the buttons on the remote will work and after a minute or so the unit will reboot on its own. It is getting frustrating because if one tuner is on a SDV channel and then the other tuner switches channels for a recording the unit will reboot and I miss the first 10 minutes of the recording.

Does anyone have a phone number at TWC that I can call about the Tuning Adapter. I do not feel like trying the regular customer service number and try to explain my problem to 4-5 people you will not have a clue as to what I am talking about. The last time I tried to contact TWC the guy told me "you will not need that tuning thing after June 12th deadline."

 

Advertisements

A good # for Rochester, NY TWC is 1-877-777-1301, this takes you direct to knowledgeable techs on the TA. I have not had the issues your seeing.

 

Mine has been solid in that the only time it rebooted was to load new firmware. But 3 or 4 times now it has tried to record shows and got a black screen. I have been running one since March 3rd.

 

In Austin, I've had my Time-Warner Cisco TA running since December 10. During the first week or so, there were some dropout issues, most of which were caused by TWCs failure to provide ANY instructions.

This meant that if the TA green light was steady or was blinking, you didn't know if that was good or bad. After a learning curve, I think TWC worked out its own internal problems, and I have had no blank recordings. One power failure here caused some re-synching problems, because it's still not clear what sequence for re-connecting is best.

But overall, and given the fact that I resent having to have a TA at all, it has really worked pretty well. There are occasions when I have noticed that trying to tune in an obscure channel requires a little effort -- you may have to key in the channel twice, or you may have to wait a half-minute or so before the picture appears -- but it's rare.

I hate giving any compliments to Time Warner because they've just announced that they are going to start capping our internet usage to about 40Gb per month unless we want to pay more. So now that I have their high-end most expensive internet speed, their top level digital TV service, and their digital phone, they are going to chop me off at the knees.

And unfortunately, there is no real alternative for my rural address.

 

For what it's worth, I'm with TWC in Albany, NY and have pretty much the exact same experience. Overall, not too bad. Very rarely I'll have to wait for an SDV channel to resolve, but usually never more than 10 to 15 sec. No issues recording, either.

Good luck!

 

Mine was definitely not stable. Daily reboots. I disconnected it. It will remain disconnected until after the season finales... Summertime is a much better time to mess with this thing... Some people have 0801 firmware (which supposedly improves stability) but others (Time Warner Cincinnati) still have 0701.

0701 seems as stable as a Russian uranium mine! At least for me and my Tivo HD.

 

If I'm looking in the right place, I have 0701......

FLASH: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.0701

......and no stability problems.

Go figure.

 

Anyone figure this problem out yet? I just got a tuning adapter in NJ (Cablevision). The adapter keeps rebooting and messing up my recordings.

Thanks.

 

I figured out that for many users these things don't work yet! You would have thought after that several month delay, they would have been ready. But no...

There are reports that a firmware upgrade might resolve this issue. Most people seem to have .0701... myself included.

Apparently .0801 fixes the problem.

Unfortunately, my Time Warner (in Cincinnati) has yet to release the firmware update.

 

Thanks, Dolfer. I've been reading through these threads and you certainly seem to be the expert on this issue. I will check my firmware version when I get home. Like you, I will probably leave the adapter unpugged until the technology is figured out.

 

I am definitely not an expert... I just know it doesn't work too well yet! (At least for me.)

I am sure there are a million variables that can affect things. It will work perfectly for some and not at all for others...

One other tip... Apparently the coaxial cables that came with these units are VERY CHEAP and can cause problems. Either buy a higher quality coax cable or see if there is an extra one somewhere in your house.

 

I have had three or four instances of the TA dropping out in the last 4 months. That is a much better record than my Series I with an STB and vastly better than my experience with the SA 8300HD, which missed as much as one program in five. On at least one occasion, it was something TWC did, as I know for a fact the problem was experienced city wide, including all 3 of my TiVos. The other times, the issue occurred only on one or the other of my TiVos at a time. In all but one case, the regular digital channels were fine, but the SDV channels were lost, which puts the situation at being much better than having no TA at all. I can't say it's been rock solid, but on the occasions when I have had problems, power cycling the TA followed by pulling the USB port and plugging it back in did the trick. It's certainly has not been perfect, but it hasn't been terrible, either. I think I've missed one show that could not be recorded again at a later date.

 

The two I have are solid. Running 701 with no reboots or missed shows since Sept of 08.

 

I checked the firmware and I'm running the 702. I will have to wait for update, whenever cablevision gets around to releasing it.

I tried replacing the cables -- actually I had a serviceman come to the house and increase the signal level, replace a bunch of connectors and install a signal booster. Still having problems with re-boots.

I like you're idea, Dolfer, of waiting until the TV season is over when I won't mind it so much if a show doesn't record. Maybe we'll have a firmware update by then.

 

I had the tuning adapter flash for about 2 days ... only to find out that it did not record my SDV shows.

I was in and out for a couple of days and did not get a chance to look into it. I assumed I would be able to watch my shows when I got a chance I was wrong.