Problem with analog cable on S3

1079 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by almighty, Oct 1, 2007

almighty

Discussion Starter · Sep 29, 2007

I am trying to diagnose what is wrong with my parents' S3 Tivo. Running two Moto S-cards, Charter Cable, everything had been running great for months. Now on one of the tuner's, all analog channels appear like a weak OTA HD signal would, with massive blocking and mpeg artifacts. Digital channels are just fine. My initial hunch is that the MPEG-2 encoder for that particular tuner has crapped out. I've tried hard reboots of the unit, restarts, and nothing helps. Its definitely not a cable signal problem, as the other tuner works just fine on all analog and digital channels. This also is not what so many on here have reported about a "range of analogs missing".

So I guess what else could/should I try before calling into Tivo and requesting a replacement unit?

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almighty

Discussion Starter · #2 · Oct 1, 2007

So nobody has even a hint as to an idea to try and fix this? Amazing!

So I just finished talking to Tivo support, and they seem to think the 9.1 update will solve this issue. But I have my doubts. Why? Because this picture break-up (its not just pixelization) just started within the last 5 days or so, and only on one tuner.

Does anyone have some opinion on this update? I didnt think the cable card had diddly to do with the analog channels, but is it possible the cable card on that particular tuner is bad in such a way as to only screw up on analog channels, while digital channels are perfect?

Would really appreciate any assistance any of you might have to offer!

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old64mb

· #3 · Oct 1, 2007

Have you thought about pulling the cable card to test your theory?

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AlphaDelta

· #4 · Oct 1, 2007

I doubt it is the cablecard; that is just a security token. I would suspect that tuner or perhaps the internal splitter.

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almighty

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 1, 2007

old64mb said:
Have you thought about pulling the cable card to test your theory?

Well I pulled them and re-inserted them. But no, I didnt pull and test. Will that require a complete guided setup?

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CCourtney

· #6 · Oct 1, 2007

Is it only the playback of a fully recorded analog cable program that exhibits the behavior?

Does watching a live analog cable program exhibit the behavior?

Then does going into the buffer of a show of an analog SD program exhibit the behavior?

CCourtney

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almighty

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 1, 2007

CCourtney said:
Is it only the playback of a fully recorded analog cable program that exhibits the behavior?

Does watching a live analog cable program exhibit the behavior?

Then does going into the buffer of a show of an analog SD program exhibit the behavior?

CCourtney

All analog, live, buffered, or recorded. But only on tuner 1. Tuner 2 is perfect on all analog. What brought up the issue was when my dad tried to watch Stargate Atlantis from SciFi (analog) on saturday that had recorded on Friday night.

In some cases, the analog picture will freeze completely, like a loss of signal. But yet the other tuner is chugging along just fine when this happened, which tells me the signal didnt go away (at least from the coax input on the back of the S3).

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old64mb

· #8 · Oct 1, 2007

Agreed on that it's almost certainly not the Cablecard, but if you pull them and try tuning without either inserted you'll have a much stronger argument for Tivo CS to not be able to point fingers elsewhere. A software patch isn't going to fix a bad tuner.

I was actually one of the ones affected with the random missing analog range from that bad batch of S3s at Amazon. I was also somewhat unique, though, because the problem was on the S3 I bought my mom - who only had limited basic analog without cablecards, and being able to narrow the source down to a Tivo-hardware-specific issue got me to a supervisor who authorized the swap very quickly.

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almighty

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 1, 2007

Ok, I will try the tuning without the cards. Best to power off the Tivo first? Or will that initiate a new Guided Setup?

Ahh ok, I pulled them when it was on, and cancelled the Guided setup prompt. Channels still were bad on the one tuner. Specifically, Tuner 1 in the diagnostics screen, cable card 1 on the CC screens. So I called back to Tivo and have a replacement on its way. They agreed that its a tuner gone bad. sucks, but at least a new (remanufactured?) unit is on the way.

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