Switching To Serial From IR

1638 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by OLdDog, Sep 25, 2007

kwheless

Discussion Starter · Sep 23, 2007

I recently moved and switched to a cable box setup (which I didn't have before). I have a Series 1 Tivo and Comcast cable with a Motorola DCT 2524 box. When I first set up my cable, I couldn't find a serial connector, so I used an IR blaster, which seems to work OK. But the cable box has a serial connector on the back, so I ordered a Tivo serial cable online to try out.

The problem is, I can't get Tivo to switch from IR to serial. When I first ran guided setup, I thought that Tivo asked me whether I wanted to use IR or serial (I picked IR). But now I can't find that option again. Under "Cable Box Setup" there's an option for picking the IR frequency, but no option for switching from IR to serial. I even repeated Guided Setup, but I was never given the option to switch to serial - it just proceeded with the IR option.

Can I find the option to switch to serial somewhere?

Thanks,
Karen

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funtoupgrade

· #2 · Sep 23, 2007

Try a clear and delete everything - you will lose all recordings and season passes but this will clear the memory for your current cable box and let you start over. Another possibility might be to temporarily hook up an antenna instead of cable box and go through a new guided setup for antenna. Once done, remove antenna and hook up cable box and go through another guided setup. I'm guessing that since you did not change cable box models the unit is not giving you the choices you need.

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JimSpence

· #3 · Sep 23, 2007

I believe you need to go back a bit further with guided setup. IE: start at the very beginning. I don't think you need to do a Clear and Delete Everything.

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classicsat

· #4 · Sep 24, 2007

The Series 1s don't support serial for cable boxes directly. There may be a hack to enable it though.

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kwheless

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 25, 2007

The manual that came with my Series 1 Tivo specifically mentions serial connections and lists serial as an option for controlling cable boxes, and there is a connector labeled "serial" on the back of my Tivo. So it seems like it's supported. But the manual doesn't explain how to switch from IR to serial.

I tried going through guided setup again, telling Tivo that I used an antenna. After guided setup was completed and Tivo finished indexing, I went back and repeated guided setup again, this time going back to a cable box. No luck, I still didn't get the option of switching to serial. And I lost all of my channel selections - I'm not sure it's worth trying to delete everything and start over. I'd hate to have to create all my wish lists and season passes again.

It just seems like there ought to be an easy way to do this.

Karen

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OLdDog

· #6 · Sep 25, 2007

classicsat said:
The Series 1s don't support serial for cable boxes directly. There may be a hack to enable it though.

This is VERY wrong! I had a series one and Comcast and used serial for years until Comcast sent an update that disabled the serial port on the cable box.

That is why I went totally with DTV and dropped Comcast. Before then I had both.

EDIT: It has been so long that I do not remember how the setup went but I think it was something that was not very obvious and not clear in the manual.

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