[opsman]

Thursday night my Roamio (on Breezeline cable) showed channel not supported message.

Checked things on my end, called Breezeline and eventually spoke to a tech about the cable card. Tech checked settings, did several Tivo reboots of service connection.

Ultimately the tech noticed a huge signal loss during the day and said no way to get a tivo working with that low a signal-have to send a tech. Coming later today.

Hopefully they an resolve this but In the meantime, I moved a dta from the bedroom to living room so we can at least watch live cable.

I dont know if its me but the picture with the dta seems better than my Roamio.

Does this make sense and is it worth updating to an Edge over the Roamio? Roamio has lifetime subscription with pre roll ads turned off by Tivo.

Breezline rents their tivo boxes that apparently still use cable cards (I asked the tech on the phone about this who confirmed they install cards into their rented boxes) so I gather that means the support will remain and they know about cable cards unlike some ither cable companies.

 

[opsman]

BTW, not really considering renting as last time I checked with Breezeline it was not worth the rental charges plus I dont want t lose skip function that the cable company versions do not support.

Current offer at Tivo for an Edge with all in support is $450. Kind of hefty with cable card support in doubt in the upcoming years but if Breezline is still using cablecards themselves I can rest a bit easier on support over the years.

 

[cwoody222]

I don’t know what a “dta” is but an Edge will produce the same picture quality as a Roamio, via cable.

If your sole reason for upgrading is picture quality, it won’t matter.

 

[opsman]

Thanks, thats what I thought about cable pic quality between the two. May be a placebo effect on my part.

DTA is the small/basic non dvr box you have to rent from cable co to get a tv working on theyr system.

 

[dianebrat]

Your Roamio is probably fine, and just because a CableCo uses CableCARDs in their equipment does not mean they know how to properly pair a card on a piece of consumer provided hardware, their equipment almost always has all the info on the CableCARD in their inventory system so they don't have to manually pair them.

Even if your Roamio were truly dead, (which is rare) it's a better deal to buy a used Roamio with Lifetime for under $250 than an Edge.

 

[opsman]

Your Roamio is probably fine, and just because a CableCo uses CableCARDs in their equipment does not mean they know how to properly pair a card on a piece of consumer provided hardware, their equipment almost always has all the info on the CableCARD in their inventory system so they don't have to manually pair them.

Even if your Roamio were truly dead, (which is rare) it's a better deal to buy a used Roamio with Lifetime for under $250 than an Edge.

LOL, hey I was giving them the benefit of the doubt but at least they werent offput about dealing with the CableCARD.

Does t make sense that the signal is too low for a Tivo when the dta works? That didnt make sense to me but I really dont know. Maybe its the CableCARD itsef- the tech did say that they were putting that in the notes so the tech coming today better have one with them.

 

[krkaufman]

I dont know if its me but the picture with the dta seems better than my Roamio.

Does this make sense and is it worth updating to an Edge over the Roamio?

Breezline rents their tivo boxes that apparently still use cable cards

BTW, not really considering renting

Depending on the TiVo hardware supplied by Breezeline, it might at least provide insight Re: picture quality (if the Breezeline hardware is a BOLT or EDGE at its core).

 

[dianebrat]

LOL, hey I was giving them the benefit of the doubt but at least they werent offput about dealing with the CableCARD.

Does t make sense that the signal is too low for a Tivo when the dta works? That didnt make sense to me but I really dont know. Maybe its the CableCARD itsef- the tech did say that they were putting that in the notes so the tech coming today better have one with them.

It's never the CableCARD... I think we need a TCF bot to just automatically reply when that comes up
Is it possible for there to be issues because of bad signal? certainly is, but the fix isn't swapping the CableCARD, it's fixing the signal issue.

 

[opsman]

Depending on the TiVo hardware supplied by Breezeline, it might at least provide insight Re: picture quality (if the Breezeline hardware is a BOLT or EDGE at its core).

Breezline was Atlantic broadband when they switched to the Tivo based dvr back around 2018/19 or so it was a Bolt. Dont know if they switched to Edge and really dont know if the people we talk to at the company really know. The onsight tech MAY have better insight there but who knows.

 

[opsman]

It's never the CableCARD... I think we need a TCF bot to just automatically reply when that comes up
Is it possible for there to be issues because of bad signal? certainly is, but the fix isn't swapping the CableCARD, it's fixing the signal issue.

Yeah, they did say my signal went from excellent to almost nothing mid day (I was at work).

DTA works fine, internet works fine, cable phone line works fine but Tivo-Nadda

All are on the same line coming into the house.

Tech kept mentioning modem signal issue but as said, internet and phone are fine.

Hopefully the onsite tech can resolve this the same way they did when I updated the dtr's last year. Cust service, phone tech couldnt activate them-sent tech to the house who said they have a way to lock the signal that support doesnt.

NOW they also addressed a low signal issue then and had to replace the line from street pole to house. But the Tivo was fine with that low signal.

Hopefully no new line needs to be run today as the appintment is 2:30-4:30 and if they arrive at the later side it will be gettig dark, PLUS we just had a snow storm yesterday here in NH and the line runs through a small wooded area from pole to house-have fun with that in the snow.

 

[CommunityMember]

Does t make sense that the signal is too low for a Tivo when the dta works?

As with all else, it depends on the details, but yes. DTAs use a tuning map acquired from one/more channels the device is tuning (SCTE-65 is a common approach). CableCARD devices use a different approach for acquiring the tuning maps (SCTE-55 is a common approach). These use different frequencies, and an impairment of one set may not impair the other.

A good tech will be able to determine quickly if there are issues with the signal levels/quality. Signal levels dropping during the day are more likely to be plant or drop related, and the tech should be able to deal appropriately (if it is plant related it may take some time to get resolved as the plant techs (with their bucket trucks) typically have full schedules).

 

[opsman]

Thanks for the differences between hardware technology and implementation types.

When you say plant issue, do you mean along the lines or at a substation of some kind? I would think others that are using tivo based dvr from Breezeline would have similar issues if it were line related before the drop connection.

 

[CommunityMember]

When you say plant issue, do you mean along the lines or at a substation of some kind?

Usually along the hard line and nodes/amps/taps that runs down the street and eventually provide a connection point for your drop. How many customers a plant issue impacts can vary from a one/few, to hundreds, depending on the details, and what services/devices they are using (some customers may be using DTAs which you say are not impacted, or just Internet services and using another TV service entirely such as Hulu, so they may not be impacted, and some may be Internet only, which you indicate is not impacted).

In any case, determining the actual causes of signal drop offs during different hours of the day often requires boots on the ground, and that is why your cable company is sending a tech.

 

[opsman]

It's never the CableCARD... I think we need a TCF bot to just automatically reply when that comes up
Is it possible for there to be issues because of bad signal? certainly is, but the fix isn't swapping the CableCARD, it's fixing the signal issue.

Usually along the hard line and nodes/amps/taps that runs down the street and eventually provide a connection point for your drop. How many customers a plant issue impacts can vary from a one/few, to hundreds, depending on the details, and what services/devices they are using (some customers may be using DTAs which you say are not impacted, or just Internet services and using another TV service entirely such as Hulu, so they may not be impacted, and some may be Internet only, which you indicate is not impacted).

In any case, determining the actual causes of signal drop offs during different hours of the day often requires boots on the ground, and that is why your cable company is sending a tech.

Well, they were here and after some signal tests that showed as perfect the tech reconnected service connection, re boot of Tivo, and then they replaced/paired the CableCARD to resolve the issue.

Do cards go "bad" or could a bad signal that was now OK with an attempted re pairing of the old card possibly have resolved this as well?

 

[dianebrat]

Well, they were here and after some signal tests that showed as perfect the tech reconnected service connection, re boot of Tivo, and then they replaced/paired the CableCARD to resolve the issue.

Do cards go "bad" or could a bad signal that was now OK with an attempted re pairing of the old card possibly have resolved this as well?

You can count the number of “cableCARDs that have gone bad” reported here on one hand, it’s never the CableCARD

 

[opsman]

You can count the number of “cableCARDs that have gone bad” reported here on one hand, it’s never the CableCARD

Good to know. Could a re pairing attempt resolve an issue like this? Want to know for myself (or others that might read this) in case it ever happens again-I would push for a re-pairing.

 

[justinw]

Add me as someone whose cable card just went bad. I unplugged the TiVo to move it down a shelf on my cabinet and after booting it back up it didn’t work. Kept saying searching for a signal. I had that card for 10 years in various TiVos with Comcast. The techs tried a bunch of different cards and finally one paired.

 

[dianebrat]

Add me as someone whose cable card just went bad. I unplugged the TiVo to move it down a shelf on my cabinet and after booting it back up it didn’t work. Kept saying searching for a signal. I had that card for 10 years in various TiVos with Comcast. The techs tried a bunch of different cards and finally one paired.

That doesn’t describe multiple bad cards, it describes incompetence in them pairing them

 

[Mjsudduth]

BTW, not really considering renting as last time I checked with Breezeline it was not worth the rental charges plus I dont want t lose skip function that the cable company versions do not support.

Current offer at Tivo for an Edge with all in support is $450. Kind of hefty with cable card support in doubt in the upcoming years but if Breezline is still using cablecards themselves I can rest a bit easier on support over the years.

Just an FYI. My cable supported Edge does have the autoskip function and records 6 stations at once. So much better than old Roamiobb

BTW, not really considering renting as last time I checked with Breezeline it was not worth the rental charges plus I dont want t lose skip function that the cable company versions do not support.

Current offer at Tivo for an Edge with all in support is $450. Kind of hefty with cable card support in doubt in the upcoming years but if Breezline is still using cablecards themselves I can rest a bit easier on support over the years.

 

[krkaufman]

My cable supported Edge does have the autoskip function and records 6 stations at once. So much better than old Roamiobb

Any Roamio Plus/Pro running the TE4 software would have the same capability. The EDGE’s edge would be responsiveness and 4K, where available.