# At Wit's End, Tiling, Comcast



## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

Hi, in summary, I have one TIVO bolt, one tivo mini on a moca network. My cable provider is comcast. Over the last year or two, I get tiling on certain stations, GOLF, HGTV and perhaps a few others. It is not constant but annoying enough that I have tried to fix several times. Lately some stations are unwatchable. Comcast says signal strength is fine, tivo says all settings and signals are fine as well. TIVO sent a replacement box but it was worse with that so will send another to see if that works. Over many months we have replaced all cables, went from a powered splitter to a standard splitter to one with 5-2500 MHz. Golf channel comes in without tiling via their box but when I use the tivo with cable card, the problem returns. I've read forums all over comcast and tivo, spoken with multiple people at each company, restarted my modem, cable box, tivo box a ridiculous amount of time. Does anyone know what I should do? I am almost to the point of getting a refund on my tivo membership and dropping cable completely, I am so frustrated. Thank you for any suggestions.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

mrsf said:


> I have one TIVO bolt, one tivo mini on a moca network.


Is the BOLT doing MoCA? If so, does the problem persist if MoCA is disabled on the BOLT and the BOLT is networked strictly via Ethernet or Wi-Fi?

Also, just to confirm, you see the tiling when viewing on the BOLT?


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

krkaufman said:


> Is the BOLT doing MoCA? If so, does the problem persist if MoCA is disabled on the BOLT and the BOLT is networked strictly via Ethernet or Wi-Fi?
> 
> Also, just to confirm, you see the tiling when viewing on the BOLT?


I see the tiling on the BOLT, sometimes on the mini. Unfortunately I am unable to connect the tivo because they deactivated it until the new one arrives. I'll let you know, thank you.


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## scole250 (Nov 8, 2005)

By tiling, do you mean pixelation? And is it also occurring on the Bolt or just the mini? If it's occurring on the Bolt, it's likely a bad signal. Not necessarily weak. If the CC has their diagnostic equipment connected at the time when it's occurring they can verify the problem and track it down. Could be in your home or somewhere down the line. They should start in your home, then when they can see it back out to the street to confirm whether they see the issue out there too. I had a similar issue and it took a while to get resolved. Not for lack of TWC's effort. Just had to have the stars line up right so when the problem occurred they had a tech nearby to run over and check. Luckily it seemed to occur at nearly the same time each day, 5pm'ish. TWC tracked it down to issue with amp somewhere in the neighborhood.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

mrsf said:


> Comcast says signal strength is fine, tivo says all settings and signals are fine as well.


In my experience your problem could be a weak or strong signal.

A few months ago I began seeing pixelation here and there. Then it got worse and worse. I had a Comcast tech out, he replaced and/or changed a few things...said my signal strength was fine. I was seeing 100% signal strength on every tuner. And...100% can mean 100%, 110%, 120%...you get the idea. My SNR dB levels were in the mid-40's, while TiVo recommends 35.

Long story short, after some experimentation, I added a -12 dB attenuator (cost was just a few dollars). My signal strength now varies from high-80's to high-90's. dB levels are 35 to 40. Picture quality has been excellent.

So...put your tuners on different channels...the ones you watch the most. Then check your diagnostics screen, looking for signal strength and SNR levels. Let us know what you find.


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## jadziedzic (Apr 20, 2009)

Check for uncorrectable errors in the diagnostics section of the menu (there will be a listing for each tuner). We had a bad Comcast hardline connector about 200 feet away from the house that was causing noise in the line, and while all of my TiVos (Bolt+, Roamio) were reporting uncorrectable errors and showing pixelation on nearly all channels, my neighbors with Comcast X1 boxes were not having any issues. I finally managed to speak with a Comcast supervisor who took pity, and brought out a pre-X1 Comcast box as a test; it too started having similar symptoms, and was also recording uncorrectable errors. The supervisor brought out a line crew and they eventually found their bad connection.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

scole250 said:


> By tiling, do you mean pixelation? And is it also occurring on the Bolt or just the mini? If it's occurring on the Bolt, it's likely a bad signal. Not necessarily weak. If the CC has their diagnostic equipment connected at the time when it's occurring they can verify the problem and track it down. Could be in your home or somewhere down the line. They should start in your home, then when they can see it back out to the street to confirm whether they see the issue out there too. I had a similar issue and it took a while to get resolved. Not for lack of TWC's effort. Just had to have the stars line up right so when the problem occurred they had a tech nearby to run over and check. Luckily it seemed to occur at nearly the same time each day, 5pm'ish. TWC tracked it down to issue with amp somewhere in the neighborhood.


Did you have to pay for a service call in your home? If the signal is not tiling/pixelating at the moment they are in the house, they will keep charging me, I believe. They insist it's comcast. I am hoping to settle this after the next tivo comes and it doesn't work right either. Today we had to hook up the Comcast X1 box and have not seen the tiling yet so they said in the past, because I didn't see it with the tivo not hooked up, that it was Tivo's issue. Do you think they're right or could there be some sort of conflict between the TIVO and cable card?


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

DeltaOne said:


> In my experience your problem could be a weak or strong signal.
> 
> A few months ago I began seeing pixelation here and there. Then it got worse and worse. I had a Comcast tech out, he replaced and/or changed a few things...said my signal strength was fine. I was seeing 100% signal strength on every tuner. And...100% can mean 100%, 110%, 120%...you get the idea. My SNR dB levels were in the mid-40's, while TiVo recommends 35.
> 
> ...


That's what I did with the TIVO tech...we recorded a station with tiling and two without and compared and contrasted the signals. He said they were all fine. I believe the decibel levels were 32 or 35, somewhere in there. If I try what you suggest, should I put the tuners on stations that have the tiling issue or others?


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## scole250 (Nov 8, 2005)

I don't recall that I had to pay for a service call. Maybe because I have phone, TV and internet with them and pay them a wad every month. The way we worked it out was an area supervisor gave me their card and I called them directly when the problem was occurring and he got there in time to observe it. All I can suggest is be polite to them and understand an intermittent problem can be difficult to diagnose. And when you do have a good experience with them, take the time to do the customer satisfaction surveys and rate them well. I think it really makes a difference.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

mrsf said:


> That's what I did with the TIVO tech...we recorded a station with tiling and two without and compared and contrasted the signals. He said they were all fine. I believe the decibel levels were 32 or 35, somewhere in there. If I try what you suggest, should I put the tuners on stations that have the tiling issue or others?


I used six stations we often watch...some were exhibiting problems, some were not. I found it best to record signal strength and SNR on paper, then check again as I made changes. (I was trying different levels of attenuation.)

Someone suggested checking correctable and uncorrectable errors. This comes up occasionally here on the forum. I know that I get errors on tuners even when the picture quality is fine. I guess it depends on now many errors...and I don't know what an acceptable level of errors is.

I've never had to pay for a service call. When I call in the problem I say the picture quality is so bad I can't use any channels. Then when the tech arrives I explain the real problem.

The Comcast tech, when he was here, replaced a few coax ends with newer, better stuff. Also replaced my two 2-way splitters with one 3-way splitter...explaining I didn't have to have to split out the coax run to my cable modem by itself. He also installed a POE filter. I explained I didn't use MOCA, everything was ethernet. He said I did use MOCA, on the incoming line from Comcast and that their new policy was to install a POE filter on any house they visited that did not have one.

So...check your coax ends...check your splitter(s).

You posted that an X1 box gives acceptable picture quality. That suggests your TiVo is at fault or your signal is too strong, since it's often said that TiVo's have internal amps that increase the signal strength and can make an already strong signal be too strong. I think the give-away here will be that all your tuners report 100%. If they all report 100% then you don't know what the real signal strength is.

When I began testing I didn't have any attenuators, so I used spare splitters. Depending on how you connect each splitter, you can drop the signal by -3.5 dB or -7 dB. I simply kept adding splitters until my TiVo had all six tuners at less than 100% signal strength. Then I knew which attenuator I needed. I purchased an assortment anyway...just so I had lots of options.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

DeltaOne said:


> You posted that an X1 box gives acceptable picture quality. That suggests your TiVo is at fault or your signal is too strong, since it's often said that TiVo's have internal amps that increase the signal strength and can make an already strong signal be too strong. I think the give-away here will be that all your tuners report 100%. If they all report 100% then you don't know what the real signal strength is.


I'll have to hook it all up today and recheck the values. I went through each one with the TIVO tech last week, there were millions of uncorrected errors and the SNS and Db levels were fine. I believe the signal strength was lower than 100%, I remember reading about that before, maybe it was 80% or so but I can't remember. The one other thing I am going to try is a different cable card to see if that makes any change in picture. I love TIVO and I hate to give it up but jeepers, it is taking up a lot of my precious time to get an acceptable picture. After the next one arrives, if things are still awful, I'll call comcast. Thanks for your advice.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

mrsf said:


> I'll have to hook it all up today and recheck the values. I went through each one with the TIVO tech last week, there were millions of uncorrected errors and the SNS and Db levels were fine. I believe the signal strength was lower than 100%, I remember reading about that before, maybe it was 80% or so but I can't remember. The one other thing I am going to try is a different cable card to see if that makes any change in picture. I love TIVO and I hate to give it up but jeepers, it is taking up a lot of my precious time to get an acceptable picture. After the next one arrives, if things are still awful, I'll call comcast. Thanks for your advice.


I doubt a different cable card will change anything. Let us know if it does.

If you remember signal strength less than 100%...then perhaps the TiVo is at fault.

I wonder if the X1 is more tolerant of correctable and uncorrectable errors than TiVo hardware?


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

DeltaOne said:


> I doubt a different cable card will change anything. Let us know if it does.
> 
> If you remember signal strength less than 100%...then perhaps the TiVo is at fault.
> 
> I wonder if the X1 is more tolerant of correctable and uncorrectable errors than TiVo hardware?


I'm going to do the diagnostics on the tivo again and I'll report here. So frustrating!!!


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

DeltaOne said:


> In my experience your problem could be a weak or strong signal.
> 
> So...put your tuners on different channels...the ones you watch the most. Then check your diagnostics screen, looking for signal strength and SNR levels. Let us know what you find.


I was able to hook up my original Bolt. My results are:

*Golf Channel* (frequently pixelates/tiles)
Freq 57000 KHz
Signal Strength 87-90%
SNR 35-36 dB
RS Uncorr 201326580 and rising as recording continues
RS Corr 0

*HGTV* (also pixelates)
Freq 63000 KHz
Signal Strength 87-90%
SNR 35-36 dB
RS Uncorr 0
RS Corr 0

*NBC* (does not have the problem)
Freq 363000 KHz
Signal Strength 87-90
SNR 35-36 dB
RS Uncorr 6
RS Corr 0

Had the video on for a while this morning from Golf Channel and never saw any pixelation with the X1 box connected. I've seen occasional pixelation now that the BOLT is connected and the X1 disconnected.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

krkaufman said:


> Is the BOLT doing MoCA? If so, does the problem persist if MoCA is disabled on the BOLT and the BOLT is networked strictly via Ethernet or Wi-Fi?
> 
> Also, just to confirm, you see the tiling when viewing on the BOLT?


Didn't finish answering your question. The Bolt is doing MoCA and via ethernet. Mini connects via WIFI, there is also a comcast phone line plugged into the comcast modem if that makes any difference.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

scole250 said:


> By tiling, do you mean pixelation? And is it also occurring on the Bolt or just the mini? If it's occurring on the Bolt, it's likely a bad signal. Not necessarily weak. If the CC has their diagnostic equipment connected at the time when it's occurring they can verify the problem and track it down. Could be in your home or somewhere down the line. They should start in your home, then when they can see it back out to the street to confirm whether they see the issue out there too. I had a similar issue and it took a while to get resolved. Not for lack of TWC's effort. Just had to have the stars line up right so when the problem occurred they had a tech nearby to run over and check. Luckily it seemed to occur at nearly the same time each day, 5pm'ish. TWC tracked it down to issue with amp somewhere in the neighborhood.


It occurs on the BOLT, use the mini mostly for taped or streamed shows so have not noticed tiling except thru a taped show from the BOLT. I can't imagine comcast coming on the fly, hard enough to get them with an appt--You were certainly lucky!


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

jadziedzic said:


> Check for uncorrectable errors in the diagnostics section of the menu (there will be a listing for each tuner). We had a bad Comcast hardline connector about 200 feet away from the house that was causing noise in the line, and while all of my TiVos (Bolt+, Roamio) were reporting uncorrectable errors and showing pixelation on nearly all channels, my neighbors with Comcast X1 boxes were not having any issues. I finally managed to speak with a Comcast supervisor who took pity, and brought out a pre-X1 Comcast box as a test; it too started having similar symptoms, and was also recording uncorrectable errors. The supervisor brought out a line crew and they eventually found their bad connection.


Did not have any errors noticed via the X1 box. Is there a way to check uncorrectable errors myself on the X1? I'm sure, over the years, we have had this issue and I've called Comcast, pre Bolt. I know we've had the line from the street to the house replaced and later on the cable on the street so they are less than 10 years old. We had a TiVo years ago as well but I can't remember any problems then. I'm waiting for one more TiVo box to arrive, then I'll try Comcast yet again. Or cancel TiVo, not sure what to do. I feel as if it's a conspiracy by Comcast to make us soley use them. I didn't want the X1 box to begin with but the newest cheaper package they tempted me with required me to install it just to activate.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> *Golf Channel* (frequently pixelates/tiles)
> Freq 57000 KHz
> Signal Strength 87-90%
> SNR 35-36 dB
> ...


BTW, a Bolt and basic/OTA Roamio do not display RS Corrected errors. A channel so low (57MHz) would be really be a problem with external interference. If you can watch the errors move, try turning stuff off. I had a Visio TV that killed my cable modem.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> BTW, a Bolt and basic/OTA Roamio do not display RS Corrected errors. A channel so low (57MHz) would be really be a problem with external interference. If you can watch the errors move, try turning stuff off. I had a Visio TV that killed my cable modem.


What stuff would I turn off? It's the tivo, tv, and comcast equipment involved...if I turn any of it off, there would be no picture to watch. Maybe I misunderstand what you mean?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> What stuff would I turn off? It's the tivo, tv, and comcast equipment involved...if I turn any of it off, there would be no picture to watch. Maybe I misunderstand what you mean?


As a test you could turn off everything but the TV and TiVo. Those are the only devices needed to watch Diagnostics. Also, there is whole cable infrastructure. There are probably places where bad shielding could allow interference to enter. Since it's not every channel/frequency, I would expect it to be very local. My biggest source of interference is from cell phones giving me errors on my cable modem.

Here's a test: Tune your TiVo to the Golf Channel. Check diagnostics and try to estimate the number of errors you get per minute. After that, restart the TiVo and when it starts the restart, turn off the TV for an hour. After an hour check Diagnostics. Are the errors what you expected? If yes, it's not the TV. Also, check all tuners since they should be identical. Simple test.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> As a test you could turn off everything but the TV and TiVo. Those are the only devices needed to watch Diagnostics. Also, there is whole cable infrastructure. There are probably places where bad shielding could allow interference to enter. Since it's not every channel/frequency, I would expect it to be very local. My biggest source of interference is from cell phones giving me errors on my cable modem.
> 
> Here's a test: Tune your TiVo to the Golf Channel. Check diagnostics and try to estimate the number of errors you get per minute. After that, restart the TiVo and when it starts the restart, turn off the TV for an hour. After an hour check Diagnostics. Are the errors what you expected? If yes, it's not the TV. Also, check all tuners since they should be identical. Simple test.


I won't be able to do that today but will try later in the week. This seems like it will take forever to straighten out.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

mrsf said:


> I was able to hook up my original Bolt. My results are:
> Signal Strength 87-90%
> SNR 35-36 dB
> Signal Strength 87-90%
> ...


The good news is we can rule out your signal being too strong. The bad news is you still have a problem.

It seems odd that those three different channels all have the same numbers. I see different numbers for just about everything.

When the Comcast guy was here he said my numbers were fine, maybe a bit low in the low band. I don't know what low band means. I do know that my local channels have a signal strength from 88 to 90, my often watched cable channels (CNN, MSNBC, HGTV, Discovery, Velocity) have a signal strength of 95 to 99%.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

DeltaOne said:


> When the Comcast guy was here he said my numbers were fine, maybe a bit low in the low band. I don't know what low band means.


In cable feeds, low band means 55MHz to 90MHz. But the Diagnostics don't show a low signal, so AGC is doing its job.

North American television frequencies - Wikipedia


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

This may be a longshot but is something to check. How many rooms have cable outlets on the wall? Any cable outlet that isn't used (not connected to a TV or cable box) should be capped by a 75-ohm termination like these. They can also be found at Home Depot or other hardware stores.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

snerd said:


> This may be a longshot but is something to check. How many rooms have cable outlets on the wall? Any cable outlet that isn't used (not connected to a TV or cable box) should be capped by a 75-ohm termination like these. They can also be found at Home Depot or other hardware stores.


Thank you for the idea. Our electrician had us do that to every unused outlet but it was a good thought.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

mrsf said:


> Thank you for the idea. Our electrician had us do that to every unused outlet but it was a good thought.


Where do you live? 57 MHz is channel 2 (VHF) for ATSC and it could be jamming you.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

BobCamp1 said:


> Where do you live? 57 MHz is channel 2 (VHF) for ATSC and it could be jamming you.


 Western Massachusetts


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

There was a different station last night that had the same issue...it was 57 MHz as well. How do I address this, if it's another station jamming the first?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> There was a different station last night that had the same issue...it was 57 MHz as well. How do I address this, if it's another station jamming the first?


You might compare the Program Number on the two stations using 57MHz. Those would be the sub-channels. Also, if there is an OTA channel 2 nearby, your TV with a small antenna should receive it. If there are any OTA stations found on your TV, note their call letters since the TV will show virtual channels due to PSIP. Post the call letters (if any).

Posting your zipcode will help.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

mrsf said:


> Western Massachusetts


Where exactly? I do see WYCX-CD in southern Vermont that uses VHF 2, but it's low power. I don't see anything else around there.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

mrsf said:


> Didn't finish answering your question. The Bolt is doing MoCA and via ethernet. Mini connects via WIFI, there is also a comcast phone line plugged into the comcast modem if that makes any difference.


If the BOLT is connected via Ethernet, and the Mini via Wi-Fi, what's the purpose of MoCA in your setup?

Anyway, as a test, I'd be curious if you notice any picture quality difference were you to disable MoCA on the BOLT.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

mrsf said:


> There was a different station last night that had the same issue...it was 57 MHz as well. How do I address this, if it's another station jamming the first?


DeltaOne said this already, so I'll quote him:

"The Comcast tech, when he was here, replaced a few coax ends with newer, better stuff. Also replaced my two 2-way splitters with one 3-way splitter"

You should also check the coaxial cables themselves to see if a mouse chewed through their shielding. Or maybe there's a staple that nicked the cable.

An unexpected open/short in the line (or splitter or connector) can act like a filter or like an antenna, but will only do so for certain frequencies. So replacing everything is a good approach.

You can also disconnect the ground wire on the splitters on the splitter end. These ground wires also act like antennas. If that works, replace the ground wire with one that is 10% longer.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> You might compare the Program Number on the two stations using 57MHz. Those would be the sub-channels. Also, if there is an OTA channel 2 nearby, your TV with a small antenna should receive it. If there are any OTA stations found on your TV, note their call letters since the TV will show virtual channels due to PSIP. Post the call letters (if any).
> 
> Posting your zipcode will help.


Zip is 01106
This morning, another station with tiling/pixelation. 69KHz, what station would that be? Every station that has a lower KHz seems to have a glitch


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

BobCamp1 said:


> DeltaOne said this already, so I'll quote him:
> 
> "The Comcast tech, when he was here, replaced a few coax ends with newer, better stuff. Also replaced my two 2-way splitters with one 3-way splitter"
> 
> ...


Coax cables are fine, no splits or staples and we recently replaced them all. Splitter was replaced as well with recommended one.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

krkaufman said:


> If the BOLT is connected via Ethernet, and the Mini via Wi-Fi, what's the purpose of MoCA in your setup?
> 
> Anyway, as a test, I'd be curious if you notice any picture quality difference were you to disable MoCA on the BOLT.


I liked. The mini is connected with coaxial cable. ;-) . We needed MoCa setup, but I don't recall exactly why or how I did it but it works.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> As a test you could turn off everything but the TV and TiVo. Those are the only devices needed to watch Diagnostics. Also, there is whole cable infrastructure. There are probably places where bad shielding could allow interference to enter. Since it's not every channel/frequency, I would expect it to be very local. My biggest source of interference is from cell phones giving me errors on my cable modem


You may be onto something. I unplugged everything in the cabinet but the tivo and tv (modem, router, external hard drive, telephone on bottom shelf and sound bar behind tv. Tivo sits on top of the unused (unplugged) cable box on top shelf. The glitches went away since I did that and the uncorrected errors either read as 0 on affected stations or maintain the same number as before. Then I replaced each device one by one. The last one was the telephone (uses comcast modem) and I see a little glitch here and there but did not last and numbers did not change after 15 minutes. However, that could be just the time of day. If I start seeing the crazy stuff we've been seeing, I'll try to figure out where to move the phone though it still has to attach to the modem.

Does it make sense to all you very helpful people that the panasonic phone plugged into the modem could be giving interference?


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

mrsf said:


> Does it make sense to all you very helpful people that the panasonic phone plugged into the modem could be giving interference?


It is certainly possible, especially if it is a cordless phone.

Just about anything could ultimately be the source of the signals that are causing the interference, but the real problem is that there must be a "leak" somewhere in the system that is allowing the interference to get into the coax. It could be a loose connector or an unused coax port that isn't capped. There are many other possibilities, such as a defective modem.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> Does it make sense to all you very helpful people that the panasonic phone plugged into the modem could be giving interference?


To get a "second opinion", you could repeat the test but enable the phone first. Since other items were on, you need to be sure it's the phone. I forgot to mention that the error counters for a tuner get reset when it changes channel. There's a counter with each tuner, Time Since Tune Start, that shows how long the tuner has been on a channel.

Looking good. When my cable company tech came out a few years ago to check my modem disconnects, he brought a meter that was like those devices used at airports for metal screening. When he put it near my TV it went nuts. I never liked that TV anyway.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

mrsf said:


> Coax cables are fine, no splits or staples and we recently replaced them all. Splitter was replaced as well with recommended one.


Did they redo the connectors anyway? I had that problem once. The connector looked fine, but I redid it anyway and the problem vanished. Once the connector was off the cable, I examined it under a microscope and saw corrosion. My splitter is in the basement, and even though the RH is always below 55% corrosion still happens.

Even if the cable is new, the connector may not have been put on properly.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

BobCamp1 said:


> Did they redo the connectors anyway? I had that problem once. The connector looked fine, but I redid it anyway and the problem vanished. Once the connector was off the cable, I examined it under a microscope and saw corrosion. My splitter is in the basement, and even though the RH is always below 55% corrosion still happens.
> 
> Even if the cable is new, the connector may not have been put on properly.


The connector meaning the connection into the cable box? Our splitter is between the wall and equipment. All of it is clean, new cables, etc.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

Does it make sense that now, since disconnecting everything but the TiVo and tv and seeing the errors drop to zero, then reconnecting everything one component by one, lastly the cordless phone base station, that there have not been any uncorrected errors on the previously affected stations and any stations that have uncorrected areas have numbers 200 or less PLUS there has not be any noticeable pixelation/tiling at all when before we did this these stations were almost unwatchable? Is it something that is cumulative, meaning every couple months it may recur?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Too bad there's no way to set an alarm to catch the next time. Maybe you'll have to get more OCD like me and check the tuners every day. If nothing else has been gained, you have learned a lot and may be able to find the answer at some future time. It's through problems that I have learned the most. When I had a Sony DHG, I used to say "it's not a DVR, it's an adventure".


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> Is it something that is cumulative, meaning every couple months it may recur?


Here's one more thing. When you see errors, write down the frequency of the channel. Since virtual channels are not related to frequency, it will require the extra step. You may find a pattern.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> Here's one more thing. When you see errors, write down the frequency of the channel. Since virtual channels are not related to frequency, it will require the extra step. You may find a pattern.


It definitely was the ones of lower frequencies. I'll keep an eye on it.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> It definitely was the ones of lower frequencies. I'll keep an eye on it.


Old story. Years ago I had Comcast. I was getting really bad PQ as the frequency increased. After several visits from the idiot techs, I wrote a letter to the president of Comcast. Really, a letter. I was in CA and Comcast was in Philly. A week later four trucks pulled up outside my apartment complex. A supervisor knocked on my door. I showed him my numbers. In two hours they found a wet amplifier under a house two blocks away that had burnt down months ago. He was impressed. They fixed the amp and I was good to go.

A few years ago I was getting lower and lower signal % on low-band channels. Small cable company. I called with the numbers and it was fixed the next day. Information is power.


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## PoohLuvsTIVO (Feb 27, 2006)

mrsf said:


> Hi, in summary, I have one TIVO bolt, one tivo mini on a moca network. My cable provider is comcast. Over the last year or two, I get tiling on certain stations, GOLF, HGTV and perhaps a few others. It is not constant but annoying enough that I have tried to fix several times. Lately some stations are unwatchable. Comcast says signal strength is fine, tivo says all settings and signals are fine as well. TIVO sent a replacement box but it was worse with that so will send another to see if that works. Over many months we have replaced all cables, went from a powered splitter to a standard splitter to one with 5-2500 MHz. Golf channel comes in without tiling via their box but when I use the tivo with cable card, the problem returns. I've read forums all over comcast and tivo, spoken with multiple people at each company, restarted my modem, cable box, tivo box a ridiculous amount of time. Does anyone know what I should do? I am almost to the point of getting a refund on my tivo membership and dropping cable completely, I am so frustrated. Thank you for any suggestions.


Please let me know. Same problem with spectrum.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

PoohLuvsTIVO said:


> Please let me know. Same problem with spectrum.


Well, I hate to report this but...here it is a month later. All of a sudden the tiling started appearing again...a little at first, low or no uncorrected errors on those stations. Now, i.e. golf channel...impossible to watch. We tried unplugging everything again and redoing it, removing the phone, the sound bar as well. At the point of giving up our beloved tivo. However, I plugged the comcast X1 box back in and they had somehow disabled several stations including golf channel so we could not see if the tiling was present or not. I called, they escalated my call and tech coming later today with the assurance that they won't leave til everything works. The stations reappeared when we plugged the tivo back in, still tiling though. One thing they are telling me, our cable cards may be outdated, incompatible at this point. So hopefully we will have a fix by the end of the day. I'll report back when I get a chance.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> One thing they are telling me, our cable cards may be outdated, incompatible at this point. So hopefully we will have a fix by the end of the day. I'll report back when I get a chance.


That sounds like BS. But there is a cable card menu. In Cable Card Status, is it a Motorola card? If so is the FW* 6.25?


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> That sounds like BS. But there is a cable card menu. In Cable Card Status, is it a Motorola card? If so is the FW* 6.25?


Well I believe it is Motorola. The FW* 07.17
edited to add...the other thing the comcast person suggested is just a corrupted cable card


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> Well I believe it is Motorola. The FW* 07.17
> edited to add...the other thing the comcast person suggested is just a corrupted cable card


See, the thing is in the menu with the firmware version, it has an entry "Man:" which has "Motorola" followed by the "UPTIME" in DDDD HH:MM. Perhaps it's a SA/Cisco card.

Cable cards can be "uncorrupted" also. They are software programmed. They don't rust or take bribes.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> See, the thing is in the menu with the firmware version, it has an entry "Man:" which has "Motorola" followed by the "UPTIME" in DDDD HH:MM. Perhaps it's a SA/Cisco card.
> 
> Cable cards can be "uncorrupted" also. They are software programmed. They don't rust or take bribes.


Okay, under Man: ARRIS


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

By the way FW is 06.25.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> Okay, under Man: ARRIS


Since Arris bought Moto, I'd say that's a new cable card.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

Two comcast techs came. They replaced all the ends on the cable outside and replaced some sort of thing there as well. They said that we'd be all set. I made them wait and we tried the tv again via the X1 box and it was tiling like crazy. They replaced the box. Still tiling. They wanted us to call and electrician and check the wiring in the wall (only 3 yrs old and worked fine before). We pleaded and they are allegedly escalating it to the street team, who will check the hardwire from the house to end of street. Honestly, it is so much time out of a life. We are ready to drop them and just use the internet, no matter the cost. At least they agreed that it is not caused by the TiVo.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mrsf said:


> Two comcast techs came. They replaced all the ends on the cable outside and replaced some sort of thing there as well. They said that we'd be all set. I made them wait and we tried the tv again via the X1 box and it was tiling like crazy. They replaced the box. Still tiling. They wanted us to call and electrician and check the wiring in the wall (only 3 yrs old and worked fine before). We pleaded and they are allegedly escalating it to the street team, who will check the hardwire from the house to end of street. Honestly, it is so much time out of a life. We are ready to drop them and just use the internet, no matter the cost. At least they agreed that it is not caused by the TiVo.


Sad. Last week the football game ran late. I used my Roku to stream Late Night. The video and audio quality were pretty bad. Try it. Before I would go streaming I would get DirecTV.


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

JoeKustra said:


> Sad. Last week the football game ran late. I used my Roku to stream Late Night. The video and audio quality were pretty bad. Try it. Before I would go streaming I would get DirecTV.


We tried DirecTV, it was awful plus they couldn't get the internet to work. Took it out and left the ugly dish on the roof. We had the roof replaced and tossed it. Won't do that again


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> I used my Roku to stream Late Night. The video and audio quality were pretty bad.


Via what service/app on the Roku?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> Via what service/app on the Roku?


The NBC channel. I also received a few HDCP messages that lasted for a second during the program. I think the poor video quality was caused by making the normal 60fps into 24fps. The PCM audio is almost standard for streaming channels.

Note: the TiVo and Roku use different ports on my AVR. Everything feeds one port on my TV. I follow the Roku Ultra on AVSForum. It has issues.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

mrsf said:


> Does it make sense that now, since disconnecting everything but the TiVo and tv and seeing the errors drop to zero, then reconnecting everything one component by one, lastly the cordless phone base station, that there have not been any uncorrected errors on the previously affected stations and any stations that have uncorrected areas have numbers 200 or less PLUS there has not be any noticeable pixelation/tiling at all when before we did this these stations were almost unwatchable? Is it something that is cumulative, meaning every couple months it may recur?


Have you since repeated this to see if the problem goes away again?


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## aspexil (Oct 16, 2015)

Agreed. DirectTV was awful. Anytime we had a hard rain it failed with no signal. And it wasn't the dish as we had the same problem in two different locations. No matter how many times they came out to realign the dish the problem (no signal) came back with the next heavy rainstorm.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

i had directv for many years, then my trees grew...


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## mrsf (Aug 12, 2018)

BobCamp1 said:


> Have you since repeated this to see if the problem goes away again?


I did it once so far but have not repeated it after they changed everything.If I have time later today, I'll give that a try as well. p.s. Comcast guys said that we would get a call from Comcast letting us know when the hard line stuff would be done...crickets so far.


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