This SDV-tuning failure is an old and continuing problem and you can find numerous posts about it if you search. Neither TiVo nor the Cable Cos will admit responsibility for it and so they do nothing about it. Some of us believe TiVo could fix it with a software mod that would, in effect, automatically do the re-tune similar to what you do when you tune up/down manually. Having a channel already tuned makes no difference because when TiVo starts a recording it re-tunes the channel, even if a tuner is already sitting on the channel to be recorded, and that tuning op may fail.
It would take some engineering and test effort to diagnose what the actual problem is and apparently no one is willing to provide that. Last I heard the problem exists also on the Premiere models although I haven't heard about the Elite model. I assume only a small fraction of TiVo users experience major problems with this or there would more clamor to get it fixed. I've always had it but, for completely unknown reasons, it has happened a lot less frequently in the last month or two.
It would take some engineering and test effort to diagnose what the actual problem is and apparently no one is willing to provide that. Last I heard the problem exists also on the Premiere models although I haven't heard about the Elite model. I assume only a small fraction of TiVo users experience major problems with this or there would more clamor to get it fixed. I've always had it but, for completely unknown reasons, it has happened a lot less frequently in the last month or two.
