Tivo and Telewest (O/T but maybe useful)

1903 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by MonTheFish, Jan 29, 2006

...coolstream

Discussion Starter · Jan 27, 2006

I got up this morning to watch a recording that had been scheduled last night and quite rightly it was waiting for me on the 'Now Playing' list. However when I played it, there was a large blue banner almost totally obscuring the picture. The message on it was something like 'You are not authorised to watch this channel...' and a reference code of 1010.

Phoning Telewest fixed the problem very quickly. (Basically they reset the box remotely).

I know that this post refers more to a problem with the Telewest box (Pace 1000) and not the Tivo, but I thought it might be worth pointing out the fix to any others that come across the same problem.

It would appear that the Pace encounters buffering problems after some days of being switched on. Now that the box has been reset, the remote (and Tivo's control of it, is much more responsive with channels changing much quicker).

The Telewest rep has advised me that the box should be cold booted once a week which is going to be a big pain to remember to do, and an inconvenience too.

I wonder if other Telewest users with different boxes have a similar problem and also if this problem affects other digital users of Sky, NTL etc.

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ash_bluewomble

· #2 · Jan 27, 2006

I've only had problems like this very rarely... my Telewest box (a Pace 4000, I think...) stays up for months at a time with no problems or lack of responsiveness... However, I do make sure never to use any of the advanced "features" of Telewest, like interactive TV (red button), Teleport, etc... as these seem to make the cable box crash... my only use of the Cable box is via TiVo.

I suspect if you do some google research, you might find some kind of concensus on which cable boxes are the most stable with Telewest... There might be something on digitalspy... or even on this forum.

Cheers,
Ash.

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cwaring

· #3 · Jan 27, 2006

I have the 2000 box which, as far as I know, is almost identical to the 1000 and, like ash, I don't use it as anything other than something to watch TV with and leave it totally under the control of my Tivo. Thus I also have had no problems such as the one you describe.

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...coolstream

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 27, 2006

ash_bluewomble said:
I've only had problems like this very rarely... my Telewest box (a Pace 4000, I think...) stays up for months at a time with no problems or lack of responsiveness... However, I do make sure never to use any of the advanced "features" of Telewest, like interactive TV (red button), Teleport, etc... as these seem to make the cable box crash... my only use of the Cable box is via TiVo.

...mmmmm. I must admit that I have sometimes used the interactive features.

I think I will attempt a test. If I access these features, I'll do a cold boot afterwards but otherwise won't reset the Pace. I'll try not to access the 'features' for over a week and see if the advice I was given by Telewest is necessary.

If the Pace stays good after the test is complete, it may well be that both of you have helped pinpoint the source of the error.

Thanks guys, you've given me something to consider!

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AMc

· #5 · Jan 27, 2006

I had a 4000 and now have a 2000 I've always rebooted once a day using a digital mains timer to prevent duff TW messages ruining my recordings.
I can't remember the last time I missed a channel change or got some silly banner across a favourite show.

Well worth a few quid at Argos or B&Q. Fit and forget.

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cwaring

· #6 · Jan 27, 2006

Talk about timing

I got a banner today while watching "Working Lunch". It only lasted about 30 seconds though and did disappear by itself.

From my discussion with TW about the banners that stay on-screen, I am hopeful that they will soon be adding some code to make tham all self-terminate after a short period of time.

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doctor.steve

· #7 · Jan 27, 2006

...coolstream said:
...mmmmm. I must admit that I have sometimes used the interactive features.

I try and stay away from the "interactive" part, for the main because it's so painfully slow (hopefully the new tv drive will be faster).

As suggested by AMc (who told me this ages ago). Put the thing on a timer and then you don't have to worry about it. Mine is 4am/5am (depending on time of year) as I'm usually not recording anything of relevance at those times.

If your near a Maplin they're £8. Do a search for digital timer on their website.

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MonTheFish

· #8 · Jan 29, 2006

Mines been up for over a year with no problems though I never use the interactive stuff.

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