# SDV Tuning Adapter - Cox No. VA



## milo99

hey folks. i've created this thread to replace the one here http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=408897&page=3 in order to discuss the Tuning Adapter's deployment in Cox's Northern VA area.

Quick summary:

The TA's are in "beta testing" right now. 
They are working on trying to figure out the best delivery method. Their testing revealed that installation is pretty easy, and that they may just drop ship an adapter to save us from a truck roll. 
Someone from Cox is supposed to call by the end of the week and tell us (those of us who had filed a complaint with Fairfax Co) how it will be delivered.

We've made progress and have been called by a Cox VP that no later than Dec 11 we will have them. So joy to the wor-... er.. um.. Fairfax County!


----------



## Timber

Is there a good number to call or issue to mention if we only just complained to Fairfax Co. (like 2 minutes ago?)

-=Tim=-


----------



## milo99

Timber said:


> Is there a good number to call or issue to mention if we only just complained to Fairfax Co. (like 2 minutes ago?)
> 
> -=Tim=-


You know, i was thinking about that. I'm hesitant to give out the number of the lady from Cox, but what i'll do is send a note to Mr. Hide from Fairfax and ask him if people can just send him a note directly so as to get on the 'priority list' instead of filing a bunch of separate complaints. I'll report back.


----------



## Willis1776

I was thinking the exact same thing. I just recently purchased a Tivo box on Cox and was pretty upset with losing some of my channels. I just sent in the complaint today to Fairfax County and was wondering if I would be put on the list to receive a tuning adapter. I sure hope so because I'm still pretty upset about not receiving some of my favorite channels (VersusHD).


----------



## Revolutionary

I doubt the county will collect more names to send to Cox. They've already acheived the effect desired -- Cox delayed deployment until the adapter was "available" (even if not widely) to accomodate Tivo subscribers. Now its just a matter of supply and a demand for the box -- which is entirely Cox's problem, not the County's. They have better things to do.


----------



## deaddeeds

It seems to me that Mr. Hides full time job at Fairfax County is dealing with Communications Policy and Regulation. So I would not dismiss the idea completely. I would complain as it cant hurt and if he gets another round of names he may forward theme onto Cox.


----------



## milo99

Revolutionary said:


> I doubt the county will collect more names to send to Cox. They've already acheived the effect desired -- Cox delayed deployment until the adapter was "available" (even if not widely) to accomodate Tivo subscribers. Now its just a matter of supply and a demand for the box -- which is entirely Cox's problem, not the County's. They have better things to do.


ah, ye of little faith. Mr. Hide replied and suggested people forward their info to him via this email address:

[email protected]

They'll be forwarded to his attention and then sent to Cox. this way they can monitor the progress.

So, anyone else interested who hasn't submitted a complaint yet, i'd forward your info along to them via the above email.


----------



## milo99

Folks, I was actually just contacted by the Cox VP who contacted us earlier. I guess she found this board and more specifically this thread, as she told me that I can give you all her email if you'd like to be on the priority list for the TA. 

PM me and i'll send it to you. I'm not going to post it on here for obvious privacy concerns.


----------



## amyflick

Awesome! PM sent. 

Progress, we're making progress!


----------



## Willis1776

I emailed him earlier and received a reply about an hour later saying that It would be out by the 11th and that I would be placed on the list to receive it. Great news!!!


----------



## Dark Helmet

I emailed the person at Cox last night and I got a response back this morning. Looking good!


----------



## milo99

*Dcollens: * i tried to reply to your PM but it said that you either are not accepting PMs or are not allowed to receive them. PM me your regular email and i'll send it there.


----------



## dcollens

Tks. I sent the e-mail and she has responded that I will be added to the list.


----------



## JTalbert

Milo Thanks for your help. I am glad this is going to be resolved. I am happy that Cox has switched to SDV, will enable us to get a lot more channels. I wish Cox would have just held off until the TA was out before they did this, but am happy Cox decided to postpone the switch of the other channels to SDV, especially since my 3 year old likes to watch some of those channels. Would have been hard to explain to her why she cannot watch her shows anymore.

Thanks again!


----------



## milo99

JTalbert said:


> Milo Thanks for your help. I am glad this is going to be resolved. I am happy that Cox has switched to SDV, will enable us to get a lot more channels. I wish Cox would have just held off until the TA was out before they did this, but am happy Cox decided to postpone the switch of the other channels to SDV, especially since my 3 year old likes to watch some of those channels. Would have been hard to explain to her why she cannot watch her shows anymore.
> 
> Thanks again!


i've gained a lot from the help i've received on this forum, so doing the legwork for this is my small way of giving back.


----------



## Timber

I spoke with her today, sounds like they're on top of things!!! 

Many thanks to "Milo99."

-=tim=-


----------



## milo99

so i received word from Cox last night - apparently they figured having us pick them up will be more efficient than them shipping them out. Those of you who contacted Ms. Falk should be getting an email like the following:


> The TiVo Tuning Adapters will be available starting on December 11th with self install directions at no charge to customers in our two retail center locations in Herndon at 3080 Centreville Road, Herndon, Virginia 20171 and Kingstowne at 5958 Kingstowne Town Center, suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22315. More information on hours and directions to these locations can be found at this link: http://www.cox.com/support/fairfax/contact/locations.asp


I don't know if being the priority list matters any more since we have to go get them. I did ask her if we'll have a "reserved" TA in case of short supplies, or if it's not even going to matter (so anybody who hasn't already may not need to bother sending her a message). I'll let you know what she says.


----------



## milo99

Man, i just have to say it's nice to be dealing with a responsive person at Cox! Ms Falk got back to me with more details:


they're not going to move channels to SDV right away, probably another couple of weeks for those who don't have a chance to pick up the TAs right away
they're implementing a drop-ship program, but details aren't worked out yet
for those who contacted her, you probably will be able to request a truck roll to get it delivered to you, but of course, that means you have to be around
she's looking into putting a reserved batch of TAs for those of us who contacted her so we can be assured they'll be available for us to pick up

essentially, the fastest way to get one will be to go to their retail centers on Thursday 12/11. The program is still evolving, so there may be some hiccups, but they're trying to get these out as quickly as possible for us.

She'll be sending out emails to all on the list with the details, she's just vetting out those details with her folks and, I guess, me. 

...so to answer my earlier question, if you want on the list, still PM me to get her info and send her a note.


----------



## Timber

milo99 said:


> Man, i just have to say it's nice to be dealing with a responsive person at Cox! Ms Falk got back to me with more details:
> 
> 
> they're not going to move channels to SDV right away, probably another couple of weeks for those who don't have a chance to pick up the TAs right away
> they're implementing a drop-ship program, but details aren't worked out yet
> for those who contacted her, you probably will be able to request a truck roll to get it delivered to you, but of course, that means you have to be around
> she's looking into putting a reserved batch of TAs for those of us who contacted her so we can be assured they'll be available for us to pick up
> 
> essentially, the fastest way to get one will be to go to their retail centers on Thursday 12/11. The program is still evolving, so there may be some hiccups, but they're trying to get these out as quickly as possible for us.
> 
> She'll be sending out emails to all on the list with the details, she's just vetting out those details with her folks and, I guess, me.
> 
> ...so to answer my earlier question, if you want on the list, still PM me to get her info and send her a note.


Haven't heard this back from her yet but she was very helpful and informative.

-=Tim=-


----------



## milo99

Timber said:


> Haven't heard this back from her yet but she was very helpful and informative.
> 
> -=Tim=-


yea, they're still working the details out before she sends out a mass message to everyone that the county gave her and who contacted her via this forum.

For example, scheduling a truck roll i'm guessing wont be by calling regular customer service. She'll probably let us know how to go about it when they figure it out, and will probably have it in the email to everyone.

There have been about 20 people who PM'd me for her email, so add that the the 7 from the original complaints to the county, that's 27 people at least that she's got on her plate. So before everything is finalized, she's probably using me as a point of contact to give us a heads up without contacting everybody individually.

honestly, i'm surprised she's this hands on with everything. I mean, she's a VP, you'd think some manager below her would be handling all this, but i guess that goes to show you they're trying to get this done right.


----------



## shabby46

I just got an email a few minutes ago from Cox saying that the tuning adapters would be available starting on thursday for on-site pickup at either Herndon of Kingstown and by replying with your choice of location, your name could be put on a reserve list.

I still fully expect an email wednesday night saying that there was a shipping error and the adapters wont arrive until after the new year, but i'll keep my fingers crossed.


----------



## amyflick

I just got an email from Ms. Falk that I can pick up the TA at Kingstowne or Herndon on the 11th. She also offered to have one held for me at either location. Hooray!


----------



## milo99

shabby46 said:


> I just got an email a few minutes ago from Cox saying that the tuning adapters would be available starting on thursday for on-site pickup at either Herndon of Kingstown and by replying with your choice of location, your name could be put on a reserve list.
> 
> I still fully expect an email wednesday night saying that there was a shipping error and the adapters wont arrive until after the new year, but i'll keep my fingers crossed.


they already had "some" in stock last week, but not many, so not sure if the "some" are < 30 (that's about how many people asked me for her info + county supplied names) and thus enough for those of us to reserve, but I'm guessing they're fairly ready to go.

And even if s**t happens and they dont have enough, as Ms. Falk told me again, they will be pushing back the date that they begin to move additional channels into Switched Digital Video pool so customers will have more time to get the boxes and set them up


----------



## shabby46

milo99 said:


> they already had "some" in stock last week, but not many, so not sure if the "some" are < 30 (that's about how many people asked me for her info + county supplied names) and thus enough for those of us to reserve, but I'm guessing they're fairly ready to go.
> 
> And even s**t happens and they dont have enough, as Ms. Falk told me again, they will be pushing back the date that they begin to move additional channels into Switched Digital Video pool so customers will have more time to get the boxes and set them up


Even if they push back the scheduled SDV switch due to lack of adapters, we will still be missing out the same HD channels as always which will still leave me disappointed.

Im sure they are ready though.


----------



## deaddeeds

Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.


----------



## spitoon

deaddeeds said:


> Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.


I am also upset about this. I figure once they officialy respond to the FCC fine and how they will implement a reimbursement plan to all subscribers who lost channels unfairly due to SDV from October 2007 until now, we will hear something more definitive. This not only affected TIVO owners, but SONY HD DVR owners with cablecards and anyone else who had a piece of equipment with cable card (one-way device).


----------



## warewolf

deaddeeds said:


> Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.


This is actually something they're required to do by the FCC order released last month.


----------



## Dark Helmet

deaddeeds said:


> Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.


I hate to be the apologist for Cox ... but I don't think it's THAT horrible. At first, it was just a bunch of crap channels that went away. Didn't really miss any of them. Okay, so a fair number of new HD channels arrived, and I would have liked to have them ... but I have to be a realist. If the choice was to make new channels available to the vast majority of cable subscribers but not to CableCARD users, because of bandwidth limitations ... well, I guess I can sort of see the reasoning here.

However ... from what Jody Franklin says, the new HD channels are NOT done via SDV, they're still linear and if they were made available via the CableCARD channel map, we would be able to receive them fine. I think THAT is completely unreasonable. At this point I wouldn't bother to bring it up, but I wouldn't mind knowing what was going on there.

And yes, I understand that if the rollout of the new HD channels was delayed by the availability of the Tuning Adapter, that would create a strong incentive to get it out sooner. Maybe with this FCC decree we'll get some sort of pro-rata refund. Better than a kick in the teeth, I suppose.


----------



## Timber

Two ways to go through life, the cup is half full or half empty. I'll go with the former, better for my mental health. :up:

-=Tim=-


----------



## deaddeeds

Dark Helmet said:


> I hate to be the apologist for Cox ... but I don't think it's THAT horrible. At first, it was just a bunch of crap channels that went away. Didn't really miss any of them. Okay, so a fair number of new HD channels arrived, and I would have liked to have them ... but I have to be a realist. If the choice was to make new channels available to the vast majority of cable subscribers but not to CableCARD users, because of bandwidth limitations ... well, I guess I can sort of see the reasoning here.
> 
> However ... from what Jody Franklin says, the new HD channels are NOT done via SDV, they're still linear and if they were made available via the CableCARD channel map, we would be able to receive them fine. I think THAT is completely unreasonable. At this point I wouldn't bother to bring it up, but I wouldn't mind knowing what was going on there.
> 
> And yes, I understand that if the rollout of the new HD channels was delayed by the availability of the Tuning Adapter, that would create a strong incentive to get it out sooner. Maybe with this FCC decree we'll get some sort of pro-rata refund. Better than a kick in the teeth, I suppose.


Not to highjack the TA discussion any longer. I did not say it was "horrible" but it is illegal. Whether you did or did not want to watch the channels that were switched over to SDV. COX willfully and unlawfully withheld content from its subscribers while still charging the full rate. In my book that is called FRUAD and/or STEALING. Plus I know COX has plenty of lawyers and lobbyists on the Hill and I would not be surprised if they appealed or asked for an extension in refunding its customers for content withheld over the past year. I am a pessimist and just want to keep pushing the issue.


----------



## Revolutionary

Dark Helmet said:


> . . . However ... from what Jody Franklin says, the new HD channels are NOT done via SDV, they're still linear and if they were made available via the CableCARD channel map, we would be able to receive them fine. I think THAT is completely unreasonable. At this point I wouldn't bother to bring it up, but I wouldn't mind knowing what was going on there. . . .


Can you point me to this discussion? I've not seen that claim before. Doesn't make sense considering 1) the letters Cox sent out claiming that all new HD channels would be on SDV only and 2) they do not save any bandwidth by only withholding those channels from CC customers.

Thanks!


----------



## Willis1776

I received an email from Kathryn stating that they will be available tomorrow and asking me which location I prefer to pick up from (Kingstowne or Herndon). She said that she will make arrangments so I can pick it up on the 11th. She also stated that options are being arranged for people who prefer dropoffs or install by TS. So it looks like I should be able to pick up my adapter tomorrow.

Here's a copy of the email.

Dear Mr. Willis-

Thank you for your being a Cox Communications customer and for your interest in obtaining the new TiVo Tuning Adapter.

The TiVo Tuning Adapters will be available starting on December 11th with self install directions at no charge to customers in our two retail center locations in Herndon at 3080 Centreville Road, Herndon, Virginia 20171 and Kingstowne at 5958 Kingstowne Town Center, suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22315. More information on hours and directions to these locations can be found at this link: http://www.cox.com/support/fairfax/contact/locations.asp

If you would like a TiVo Tuning Adapter reserved at one of these locations for you, please reply to this email and let me know which location and I am happy to make the arrangements.

If you need technical support after the install, just call our customer care line at 703-378-8422 and select Technical Support for a representative to help you.

We do plan to add options for a drop shipment program and will be doing installs but the retail method will be the fastest way to get the TiVo Tuning Adapters out to our customers right away.

Thank you for allowing us to provide you with service and please let me know if you have any additional questions.


----------



## shabby46

Willis1776 said:


> I received an email from Kathryn stating that they will be available tomorrow and asking me which location I prefer to pick up from (Kingstowne or Herndon). She said that she will make arrangments so I can pick it up on the 11th. She also stated that options are being arranged for people who prefer dropoffs or install by TS. So it looks like I should be able to pick up my adapter tomorrow.
> 
> Here's a copy of the email.
> 
> Dear Mr. Willis-
> 
> Thank you for your being a Cox Communications customer and for your interest in obtaining the new TiVo Tuning Adapter.
> 
> The TiVo Tuning Adapters will be available starting on December 11th with self install directions at no charge to customers in our two retail center locations in Herndon at 3080 Centreville Road, Herndon, Virginia 20171 and Kingstowne at 5958 Kingstowne Town Center, suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22315. More information on hours and directions to these locations can be found at this link: http://www.cox.com/support/fairfax/contact/locations.asp
> 
> If you would like a TiVo Tuning Adapter reserved at one of these locations for you, please reply to this email and let me know which location and I am happy to make the arrangements.
> 
> If you need technical support after the install, just call our customer care line at 703-378-8422 and select Technical Support for a representative to help you.
> 
> We do plan to add options for a drop shipment program and will be doing installs but the retail method will be the fastest way to get the TiVo Tuning Adapters out to our customers right away.
> 
> Thank you for allowing us to provide you with service and please let me know if you have any additional questions.


quick heads up, tomorrow is the 10th. the adapters will be available on Thursday the 11th. Figure that might save you a trip out there.

P.S. Which adapter will we be getting? the long one or the shorter one? I dont remember which is which.


----------



## Dark Helmet

Revolutionary said:


> Can you point me to this discussion? I've not seen that claim before. Doesn't make sense considering 1) the letters Cox sent out claiming that all new HD channels would be on SDV only and 2) they do not save any bandwidth by only withholding those channels from CC customers.
> !


It was part of that ginormous "Cox Cable Cards" thread. Here are some relevant posts (look for all posts by jfranklin if you want to get some more information). The last one is perhaps the clearest, but you have to follow the whole discussion to get all of the context. I'm not saying it makes sense either, but something doesn't add up.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238388#post6238388
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238983#post6238983
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6248623#post6248623
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6340151#post6340151


----------



## Dark Helmet

deaddeeds said:


> Not to highjack the TA discussion any longer. I did not say it was horrible but it is illegal. Whether you did or did not want to watch the channels that were switched over to SDV. COX willfully and unlawfully withheld content from its subscribers while still charging the full rate. In my book that is called FRUAD and/or STEALING. Plus I know COX has plenty of lawyers and lobbyists on the Hill and I would not be surprised if they appealed or asked for an extension in refunding its customers for content withheld over the past year. I am a pessimist and just want to keep pushing the issue.


Well ... I guess I can only say that I don't think (given her title) that this was Ms. Falk's decision. And since she's gone out of her way to help us, I don't think she deserves a nastygram. A polite inquiry, sure. I don't think it's fair to give one person at an organization a hard time because of decisions made by another part of the same organization.

(And whether or not what Cox is done is illegal ... well, I guess I dunno. It's not as a clear-cut as you make it out to be, especially since there was an offer for a free tuner box to get the missing channels. I just have a hard time getting worked up about not being able to TiVo the Jewelry Channel)


----------



## Willis1776

I'll be picking it up first thing on Thursday morning so I'll let you know what kind of adapter it is.


----------



## Timber

Willis1776 said:


> I'll be picking it up first thing on Thursday morning so I'll let you know what kind of adapter it is.


See ya there. 

-=Tim=-


----------



## Revolutionary

Dark Helmet said:


> It was part of that ginormous "Cox Cable Cards" thread. Here are some relevant posts (look for all posts by jfranklin if you want to get some more information). The last one is perhaps the clearest, but you have to follow the whole discussion to get all of the context. I'm not saying it makes sense either, but something doesn't add up.
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238388#post6238388
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6238983#post6238983
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6248623#post6248623
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6340151#post6340151


Ah, I do remember that discussion now, thanks. My takeaway was that her "SDV list" just wasn't correct for NoVa (NoVa went SDV before any other Cox market--Hampton Roads still isn't on it).

Cox didn't just add those HD channels last November, they also moved a bunch of "lesser watched" tiers over, and I lost those tiers, too. And I got a letter from Cox saying that I would not get any new HD channels and that I would lose those lesser watched channels -- both of which happened. So I'm confident that slapping the adapter on my Tivo will bring in all of the HD channels I'm missing. It simply makes no sense that Cox would have sent out that letter last November, bought all that SDV tech, not mapped any new HD channels (20+) to cablecards, offered me 6 free months of cable-box service, and NOT actually put the new HDs on SDV.


----------



## deaddeeds

Dark Helmet said:


> Well ... I guess I can only say that I don't think (given her title) that this was Ms. Falk's decision. And since she's gone out of her way to help us, I don't think she deserves a nastygram. A polite inquiry, sure. I don't think it's fair to give one person at an organization a hard time because of decisions made by another part of the same organization.
> 
> (And whether or not what Cox is done is illegal ... well, I guess I dunno. It's not as a clear-cut as you make it out to be, especially since there was an offer for a free tuner box to get the missing channels. I just have a hard time getting worked up about not being able to TiVo the Jewelry Channel)


Do you work for COX? Do you like being overcharged by COX? Who said anything about a nastygram? And oh by the way the FCC said it was wrong. At the end of the day I just want a fair and equitable settlement to the SDV issue. Step one is getting the TA on Thursday and step two is getting the refund.


----------



## Timber

Dark Helmet said:


> Well ... I guess I can only say that I don't think (given her title) that this was Ms. Falk's decision. And since she's gone out of her way to help us, I don't think she deserves a nastygram. A polite inquiry, sure. I don't think it's fair to give one person at an organization a hard time because of decisions made by another part of the same organization.
> 
> (And whether or not what Cox is done is illegal ... well, I guess I dunno. It's not as a clear-cut as you make it out to be, especially since there was an offer for a free tuner box to get the missing channels. I just have a hard time getting worked up about not being able to TiVo the Jewelry Channel)


+1

Nicely said (and no I don't work for Cox.)

-=Tim=-


----------



## Timber

deaddeeds said:


> Do you work for COX? Do you like being overcharged by COX? Who said anything about a nastygram? And oh by the way the FCC said it was wrong. At the end of the day I just want a fair and equitable settlement to the SDV issue. Step one is getting the TA on Thursday and step two is getting the refund.


Why not open a new thread on this as the discussion is being sidetracked? 

-=Tim=-


----------



## Dark Helmet

deaddeeds said:


> Do you work for COX? Do you like being overcharged by COX? Who said anything about a nastygram? And oh by the way the FCC said it was wrong. At the end of the day I just want a fair and equitable settlement to the SDV issue. Step one is getting the TA on Thursday and step two is getting the refund.


Okay, my LAST post on this subject.

No, I don't work for Cox. Nor another cable company, nor in the media industry. I suck at the Federal teat like many others in this area. 

No, I don't like being overcharged by Cox. If you look, you will see that on a previous thread I (along with others) were ecstatic that we finally got a refund for being overcharged for two digital gateway fees for a single TiVo.

And as for a nastygram, here's the deal. You specifically said:



> Next somebody talks to Ms. Falk, ask her how about when and what kind of refund/rebate we can see for not receiving our full slate of HD/Digital channels over the past year because of SDV. As happy I am about getting the TA I am still pretty upset about how they have treated TiVo/CableCARD users over the past year.


In my view, here's a rather high-up person going out of her way to help us out (something she could have just pawned off on a underling, or just let us wait until the official announcement), and your response is to ask her (or get someone else to ask her), "Hey, where's my damn refund?" (you didn't say "damn", but I assume you're familiar with the concept of paraphrasing). Maybe you weren't serious and you were just venting. But if you were serious ... well, it kinda seems like a dick move to me.

And yes, I am aware of the FCC fine, and I don't even disagree with it; glad they got their hand slapped. I don't like to sound like the Great Cable Apologist *bicker*, but they did offer a free cable box in return. Sure, I would love to have watched Mythbusters in high-def (and I didn't take them up on the free cable box), and I'll gladly accept any refund. It's just not something I think is such a huge deal that we need to start venting at every Cox employee that goes the extra mile to help out consumers.


----------



## Dark Helmet

Revolutionary said:


> Ah, I do remember that discussion now, thanks. My takeaway was that her "SDV list" just wasn't correct for NoVa (NoVa went SDV before any other Cox market--Hampton Roads still isn't on it).


Well, maybe. But Jody did say that he (she?) had double-checked with someone in NoVa made sure those new HD channels were not on SDV. Also, you can see in some of those messages where Jody tried to pester the relevant people about this issue, and all he got back was silence. I guess I would have thought that if those channels WERE on SDV, they would simply have told him, "Sorry, you're wrong".



> So I'm confident that slapping the adapter on my Tivo will bring in all of the HD channels I'm missing. It simply makes no sense that Cox would have sent out that letter last November, bought all that SDV tech, not mapped any new HD channels (20+) to cablecards, offered me 6 free months of cable-box service, and NOT actually put the new HDs on SDV.


Well, we have documented evidence in other markets where new HD channels were NOT put on SDV, but were made unavailable to CableCard subscribers because the cable company didn't want to give CableCard customers new channels and then take them away in the future when SDV was implemented. It's possible that Jody was wrong. I can't tell myself. I'd just like to know what the deal was.

But anyway, I'm also confident that SDV or no, the TA will make our lives happier.


----------



## milo99

Dark Helmet said:


> Okay, my LAST post on this subject.
> 
> No, I don't work for Cox. Nor another cable company, nor in the media industry. I suck at the Federal teat like many others in this area.
> 
> No, I don't like being overcharged by Cox. If you look, you will see that on a previous thread I (along with others) were ecstatic that we finally got a refund for being overcharged for two digital gateway fees for a single TiVo.
> 
> And as for a nastygram, here's the deal. You specifically said:
> 
> In my view, here's a rather high-up person going out of her way to help us out (something she could have just pawned off on a underling, or just let us wait until the official announcement), and your response is to ask her (or get someone else to ask her), "Hey, where's my damn refund?" (you didn't say "damn", but I assume you're familiar with the concept of paraphrasing). Maybe you weren't serious and you were just venting. But if you were serious ... well, it kinda seems like a dick move to me.
> 
> And yes, I am aware of the FCC fine, and I don't even disagree with it; glad they got their hand slapped. I don't like to sound like the Great Cable Apologist *bicker*, but they did offer a free cable box in return. Sure, I would love to have watched Mythbusters in high-def (and I didn't take them up on the free cable box), and I'll gladly accept any refund. It's just not something I think is such a huge deal that we need to start venting at every Cox employee that goes the extra mile to help out consumers.


not only that, but when someone is going out of their way to help you, it won't help get them more motivated to continue helping if you go that route (nastygram).

I've talked to her a couple of times over the phone and over several emails. She's been going back and forth asking me for input, and showing me a draft of the email she was going to send out to see my opinion. I offered her some input and asked some questions that she very quickly addressed. And this was over the weekend!

When you do the math, our refund owed is pretty puny. Considering a tier is only $2 a month, if you've lost a couple of those channels, that aint much over a year. And if you were a subscriber last year, you haven't lost any HD channels, you just haven't gained any either. So a refund? Ehhh, i'm not expecting one, and i MOST DEFINITELY won't heckle her with those questions. I'll be happy to have my TA, get that all resolved, and then if i get a refund, it'll be gravy.

We finally have someone at Cox who is focused on helping us out. I'm not doing anything to jeopardize that!


----------



## Revolutionary

Dark Helmet said:


> Well, we have documented evidence in other markets where new HD channels were NOT put on SDV, but were made unavailable to CableCard subscribers because the cable company didn't want to give CableCard customers new channels and then take them away in the future when SDV was implemented. . . .


True. But its not like Cox NoVa hasn't already done this. Case in point is Mojo. Once INHD killed the channel, Cox replaced it with Lifetime Movie -- which is not available to CableCards



Dark Helmet said:


> But anyway, I'm also confident that SDV or no, the TA will make our lives happier.


Well, not if you're right and the HD channels aren't on SDV!  I could _*barely *_care less about the channels making the migration to SDV later this month (okay, my wife watches a couple of them regularly...). What I care about is getting USA, SciFi, TLC, Discovery, Comedy Central (soon), Science, Animal Planet, FX, Food, and VS in HD! If the TA doesn't fix that problem for me, then (a) something is seriously wrong (because that is the TA's _raison d' etre_) and (b) I will go completely ape-sh1t.


----------



## deaddeeds

Ouch, ouch ease up on the daggers, I surrender, no mas. I thought it was a simple request.

Back on topic. How much delay if any do you think there will be in actually receiving the SDV channel once you select the channel? As I understand it, the TA will send a signal to COX saying I want a channel then COX sends the content so I am thinking there could be a delay.


----------



## milo99

deaddeeds said:


> Ouch, ouch ease up on the daggers, I surrender, no mas. I thought it was a simple request.
> 
> Back on topic. How much delay if any do you think there will be in actually receiving the SDV channel once you select the channel? As I understand it, the TA will send a signal to COX saying I want a channel then COX sends the content so I am thinking there could be a delay.


from quickly perrusing the TWC sdv thread, it's pretty instantaneous.


----------



## djones18

At the end of the day, this thread reflects how an organized few moved a normally immovable object. Several members of this forum by their determined efforts were able to move Cox Fairfax, Virginia, to speed up distribution of a vital component for SDV viewing and slow down activation of SDV until TA's are available. No small feat! I for one am grateful to them.

Cox Fairfax has confirmed I can pick up my Tuning Adapter this Thursday and I intend to be there on time.


----------



## milo99

djones18 said:


> At the end of the day, this thread reflects how an organized few moved a normally immovable object. Several members of this forum by their determined efforts were able to move Cox Fairfax, Virginia, to speed up distribution of a vital component for SDV viewing and slow down activation of SDV until TA's are available. No small feat! I for one am grateful to them.
> 
> Cox Fairfax has confirmed I can pick up my Tuning Adapter this Thursday and I intend to be there on time.


what i wonder is if this was always going to be the roll out date, and the only thing we did was just shed some light on the situation and obtain info.

Although we DID manage to have them decide to delay rolling out of additional station moves to SDV for a few more weeks. But i have no idea when the TA was originally set to deploy.


----------



## jon96cobra

I just talked to Cox tech support today they are giving the adapter to all users with Tivo service not just cable card users.


----------



## frogger22

deaddeeds said:


> Back on topic. How much delay if any do you think there will be in actually receiving the SDV channel once you select the channel? As I understand it, the TA will send a signal to COX saying I want a channel then COX sends the content so I am thinking there could be a delay.


I had a Cox DVR until August when I replaced it with my Series 3. The switch was not noticeable at all with the Cox tuner. I think we can expect the same near instantaneous response with the TA.


----------



## frogger22

jon96cobra said:


> I just talked to Cox tech support today they are giving the adapter to all users with Tivo service not just cable card users.


Would this be necessary? If you don't have a CableCard then you cannot tune any digital channels, SDV or otherwise, so I am not sure the TA will do anything for you. I suspect the tech you spoke to is confused.


----------



## Timber

milo99 said:


> what i wonder is if this was always going to be the roll out date, and the only thing we did was just shed some light on the situation and obtain info.
> 
> Although we DID manage to have them decide to delay rolling out of additional station moves to SDV for a few more weeks. But i have no idea when the TA was originally set to deploy.


The information in and of itself was very helpful. You (not we) made a big difference. 

-=Tim=-


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

Anxious for tomorrow to make my 1st of 2 trips. The 1st for the TA. The 2nd to take back the DVR.


----------



## Jeff_R

Here is a post from dslreports.com regarding the tuning adapters from Cox for northern Va.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21553001-VA-Attn-Northern-VA-TiVoCable-Card-Customers

J


----------



## deaddeeds

Good to see that the news is spreading and I happy that I have one reserved for me at Kingstowne.

Do we know the make or model of the TA?


----------



## shabby46

Out of curiosity, did anybody receive a confirmation email about reserving an adapter? I replied and requested one at Kingstowne but never heard back. I wouldnt want to go in tomorrow and have them tell me there are none left.


----------



## Timber

shabby46 said:


> Out of curiosity, did anybody receive a confirmation email about reserving an adapter? I replied and requested one at Kingstowne but never heard back. I wouldnt want to go in tomorrow and have them tell me there are none left.


I haven't heard back and I'm assuming that as she stated in the email Kathryn has reserved one for me. 

-=Tim=-


----------



## jon96cobra

So I just called to try and reserve an adapter and they said they its a first come first serve for existing customers an new customers have to wait. 

Also I heard more are going to be in the Herndon office then the Kingstowne office.


----------



## milo99

u can't reserve one by calling. as I mentioned earlier in the thread, u have to contact the Cox VP to get on the priorty list. those who contacted her were then notified that they can have one reserved for them by replying to her email.

if u haven't already PM'd me, do so and i'll give u her email.


----------



## jon96cobra

PM sent.

Thanks. I don't work far form the herndon office but I can't make it over until my lunch I don't think they are going to run out but I don't want to wait until they get more.


----------



## boywaja

Timber said:


> I haven't heard back and I'm assuming that as she stated in the email Kathryn has reserved one for me.
> 
> -=Tim=-


I haven't heard back either.

I'm also confused. Is this available now as CoxTech1 stated at broadband reports, or do I need to wait until the 11th?

I'm telecommuting today so I could easily take a trip over there now.


----------



## milo99

boywaja said:


> I haven't heard back either.
> 
> I'm also confused. Is this available now as CoxTech1 stated at broadband reports, or do I need to wait until the 11th?
> 
> I'm telecommuting today so I could easily take a trip over there now.


it's tomorrow. coxtech1 replied to his own post "...the release of the TiVo tuning adapters tomorrow..."


----------



## boywaja

milo99 said:


> it's tomorrow. coxtech1 replied to his own post "...the release of the TiVo tuning adapters tomorrow..."


cool, hadn't seen that.


----------



## Revolutionary

Those of you who are getting your adapter today, be sure to update us on the install process, what channels come in, whether it works at all, etc. I'm not getting mine until Saturday (scheduled a truck roll -- no time to go to Herndon or Kingstown).

Thanks!


----------



## milo99

Revolutionary said:


> Those of you who are getting your adapter today, be sure to update us on the install process, what channels come in, whether it works at all, etc. I'm not getting mine until Saturday (scheduled a truck roll -- no time to go to Herndon or Kingstown).
> 
> Thanks!


nah, we've all conspired to get ours and never speak of it again. 

i'm getting it in about 30 minutes, so by the time i get back and get it running, i'll hopefully have something to report by 11am


----------



## JTalbert

Milo, anxious to hear about your experience. Are you going to Herndon or Kingstowne? I am curious to see if the people at the counters know there is a priority list and if there is any confusion with them in getting the adapter. I am going to try to pick mine up from Herndon today, but may not get it hooked up till later tonight or maybe not till this weekend. Good luck!


----------



## djones18

Picked up my reserved Tuning Adapter at Cox Kingstowne this morning. They indicate stock is 25 at each location (Kingstowne and Herndon). Two other folks who reserved TA's were there and Cox knew we were coming. No problem whatsoever picking it up and no cost. It is free.

It is the Cisco STA1520. Includes a power adapter, USB cable, short coax cable, Quick reference guide, Self-install sheet, and a troubleshooting guide. 

The troubleshooting guide includes the following: "Cox and TiVo discovered a performance issue in the software that occasionally impacts communications between the tuning adapter and the TiVo device. Both TiVo and Cox are working on a solution that is anticipated to be ready in early January. Once available, the software will be downloaded to your devices automatically; much like the downloads you already receive from Cox and TiVo on an ongoing basis."

Also from the guide: "Customer impacts from the above issue include:
1. Loss of a block of channels to which you subscribe.
2. Difficulty tuning to a single channel. "

The guide provides actions to take if these problems occur and a contact phone number if the actions fail to clear up the problem.

I'm now waiting for a Cox technician to arrive this morning with cablecard for my new Tivo HD. We'll then add the TA and see how things go. More later.


----------



## milo99

got mine, set it up, it was a snap.

NOTE: DO NOT JUST PLUG IT ALL IN AND GO. Read the Cox instructions first, not the Cisco ones. you have to plug in the coax, then the TA power, then call a number to activate the TA, THEN once it's activated, turn on the Tivo and plug in the USB.

The activation says it can take 20 minutes, it took <1 for me. 

The channels all seem to be coming in great on both tuners, although there is maybe a 2 second delay. But right now, it all seems GREAT!!!!! Wooohooooooo!


----------



## deaddeeds

Here is the Spec on the box, it is not small.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/video/ps9159/ps9195/ps9828/7013834.pdf


----------



## Revolutionary

milo99 said:


> got mine, set it up, it was a snap.
> 
> NOTE: DO NOT JUST PLUG IT ALL IN AND GO. Read the Cox instructions first, not the Cisco ones. you have to plug in the coax, then the TA power, then call a number to activate the TA, THEN once it's activated, turn on the Tivo and plug in the USB.
> 
> The activation says it can take 20 minutes, it took <1 for me.
> 
> The channels all seem to be coming in great on both tuners, although there is maybe a 2 second delay. But right now, it all seems GREAT!!!!! Wooohooooooo!


So, just to confirm, you are now getting all of the other HD channels that Cox has added since Nov. 2007? SciFi, Discovery, etc? We don't have to go through any rigamarole about having those channels mapped to our cable cards? Or is that the purpose of the activation call?

BTW: Congrats! You may, in fact, be one of the first (if not the first) people in the country to be using this adapter outside a beta program!


----------



## euckersw

deaddeeds said:


> Here is the Spec on the box, it is not small.
> 
> http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/video/ps9159/ps9195/ps9828/7013834.pdf


Picked mine up this morning. Won't have a chance to set it up until tonight. Saying it's not small is an understatement. I'm trying not to complain...but yet another box to stack on top of my TV...


----------



## Timber

Revolutionary said:


> So, just to confirm, you are now getting all of the other HD channels that Cox has added since Nov. 2007? SciFi, Discovery, etc? We don't have to go through any rigamarole about having those channels mapped to our cable cards? Or is that the purpose of the activation call?
> 
> BTW: Congrats! You may, in fact, be one of the first (if not the first) people in the country to be using this adapter outside a beta program!


I was #1 at the Herndon location but had to do some more errands before going home, argh!!! 

Very smooth process, all the above stations come in. Biggest pain was deselecting the non-HD versions of the new HD channels on my TiVo channel list.

No BBC HD?  LOL!

-=Tim=-


----------



## milo99

all of the stations come in now... NFLNetwork HD, CNBC, SPIKE, CNN etc etc.

AND. AND!!! The basic channels that were coming in in analog (1-102) are now in digital too!! Some of you may or may not have been aware of this, but those were sent to us in analog while sent in digital to those w/ a cablebox. But now they're coming thru in digital via the TA. 

overall, very happy. and yea, definitely nowhere near a 'dongle' as was originally theorized. I have it standing up on top my dvr expander behind the tv stand, so it's out of the way at least...


----------



## JTG2

When you call a number to activate, are you talking to a person during business hours? I may not have time to call until late at night.


----------



## milo99

JTG2 said:


> When you call a number to activate, are you talking to a person during business hours? I may not have time to call until late at night.


nope, automated. you say your phone number and it "starts" it... then you hang up and wait for the green light on the TA to stop flashing.


----------



## JTalbert

ok, Picked it up, in an out in 10 minutes from Herndon. Wow this thing is BIG. But as long as it works I will be happy, and from the early reports it is working great. 

Here is one thing I am curious about. Last year about this time. Cox was going to raise the rates of the cable cards we rent from them. But then at the last minute they decided not to. With them switching to SDV, and us not being able to get a lot of the HD Channels, they would have had a revolt. Now that they are giving us the TA for "free" how many of you think that in the next 6 months they will make another attempt at raising the fees for the cable cards?


----------



## thewebgal

JTalbert said:


> ok, Picked it up, in an out in 10 minutes from Herndon. Wow this thing is BIG. But as long as it works I will be happy, and from the early reports it is working great.
> 
> Here is one thing I am curious about. Last year about this time. Cox was going to raise the rates of the cable cards we rent from them. But then at the last minute they decided not to. With them switching to SDV, and us not being able to get a lot of the HD Channels, they would have had a revolt. Now that they are giving us the TA for "free" how many of you think that in the next 6 months they will make another attempt at raising the fees for the cable cards?


Well, for most of us in Fairfax, there is always FIOS as an alternative.
I LIKE seeing competition in this business!


----------



## jfranklin

milo99 said:


> overall, very happy. and yea, definitely nowhere near a 'dongle' as was originally theorized. I have it standing up on top my dvr expander behind the tv stand, so it's out of the way at least...


Glad to hear that everything went well. Sorry I've been out of contact, but most everything I knew I was not allowed to talk about. Didn't want to furstrate you all, and myself, by sitting in here and not being able to say anything.

I'll let the supervisor monitoring the adaptor deployment know that things are working properly when the instructions are being followed.

They have me in project all day today to support our technical reps for the calls that do come in, but it looks like it shouldn't be much of a problem.


----------



## Dark Helmet

thewebgal said:


> Well, for most of us in Fairfax, there is always FIOS as an alternative.


You can get FIOS? I think you're one of the few people I know in Fairfax County that can. Most people I know cannot.


----------



## Timber

Should I run Guided Setup to get the new HD versions of the stations to map to my Season Passes?

-=Tim=-


----------



## milo99

Timber said:


> Should I run Guided Setup to get the new HD versions of the stations to map to my Season Passes?
> 
> -=Tim=-


you're going to need to redo your season passes, as they are specific to a channel.

no need to redo guided setup though


----------



## Dark Helmet

milo99 said:


> AND. AND!!! The basic channels that were coming in in analog (1-102) are now in digital too!! Some of you may or may not have been aware of this, but those were sent to us in analog while sent in digital to those w/ a cablebox. But now they're coming thru in digital via the TA.


When I FIRST got my Series3, they were in digital, but at some point they got moved over to analog.

I'm glad the basic cable channels are in digital now, but one thing that I actually liked when they all went analog was that there were no copy protection issues with those shows. Ah, well.


----------



## Revolutionary

milo99 said:


> all of the stations come in now... NFLNetwork HD, CNBC, SPIKE, CNN etc etc.
> 
> AND. AND!!! The basic channels that were coming in in analog (1-102) are now in digital too!! Some of you may or may not have been aware of this, but those were sent to us in analog while sent in digital to those w/ a cablebox. But now they're coming thru in digital via the TA.
> 
> overall, very happy. and yea, definitely nowhere near a 'dongle' as was originally theorized. I have it standing up on top my dvr expander behind the tv stand, so it's out of the way at least...


That's great news! Now all our daily recordings from the analogs won't take up even a quarter of the disk space they used to! (Not to mention the abysmal picture quality...)

Which will help offset the huge jump that so many of our other shows are going to see since we can now get them in HD! 

Thanks for the updates!


----------



## Revolutionary

JTalbert said:


> ok, Picked it up, in an out in 10 minutes from Herndon. Wow this thing is BIG. But as long as it works I will be happy, and from the early reports it is working great.
> 
> Here is one thing I am curious about. Last year about this time. Cox was going to raise the rates of the cable cards we rent from them. But then at the last minute they decided not to. With them switching to SDV, and us not being able to get a lot of the HD Channels, they would have had a revolt. Now that they are giving us the TA for "free" how many of you think that in the next 6 months they will make another attempt at raising the fees for the cable cards?


Cox didn't raise the CC rates because a number of us complained and pointed out that the FCC regulations more or less forbade them from doing it. (I'm oversimplifying -- it was a while ago). PLUS, the TA is supposed to be free. Not exactly cool to raise the rate for the CC _because of _the TA, even though the TA is free.


----------



## djones18

milo99 said:


> got mine, set it up, it was a snap.
> 
> NOTE: DO NOT JUST PLUG IT ALL IN AND GO. Read the Cox instructions first, not the Cisco ones. you have to plug in the coax, then the TA power, then call a number to activate the TA, THEN once it's activated, turn on the Tivo and plug in the USB.
> 
> The activation says it can take 20 minutes, it took <1 for me.
> 
> The channels all seem to be coming in great on both tuners, although there is maybe a 2 second delay. But right now, it all seems GREAT!!!!! Wooohooooooo!


Milo 99: Congrats!!

I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.

Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.


----------



## bentley01

that TiVo units are 1 way and not 2 way devices. Maybe the complaints should be directed at TiVo for developing an inferior 1 way product in an increasingly 2 way world. Just a thought!!


----------



## Timber

btw, huge congrats to TiVo. It could not have been simpler (and more bug-free) at the TiVo end of this.

-=Tim=-


----------



## milo99

bentley01 said:


> that TiVo units are 1 way and not 2 way devices. Maybe the complaints should be directed at TiVo for developing an inferior 1 way product in an increasingly 2 way world. Just a thought!!


um. yeeeaaa... considering that the Tivos were designed to work with what cablelabs gave them to work with, yeaaaa... that's Tivo's lack of foresight. Too bad they didn't even put in something like a USB port to allow for future additions to handle *oh my gosh* something JUST LIKE THIS.


----------



## milo99

djones18 said:


> Milo 99: Congrats!!
> 
> I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.
> 
> Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.


i can't remember the instructions, it should say it in there though.


----------



## jfranklin

djones18 said:


> Milo 99: Congrats!!
> 
> I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.
> 
> Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.


The TiVo can be powered up, just make sure that it is running the most recent version of the firmware before you connect the TA to it. Also be sure that the TA is activated (the status light is burning solid) before connecting it to the TiVo via USB. The cable connection can be made between the TA and the TiVo before the activation.


----------



## Timber

jfranklin said:


> The TiVo can be powered up, just make sure that it is running the most recent version of the firmware before you connect the TA to it. Also be sure that the TA is activated (the status light is burning solid) before connecting it to the TiVo via USB. The cable connection can be made between the TA and the TiVo before the activation.


Jody, much credit to the Cox Communications organization. On Friday the Retail Center reps had not heard of Tuning Adapters, today they were handing them out and they were being authorized automatically!

-=Tim=-


----------



## amyflick

Mine's been activating for about 10 minutes now. I hope it works!


----------



## djones18

djones18 said:


> Milo 99: Congrats!!
> 
> I'm now trying to understand the instructions that came with my new Cox Fairfax TA which I picked up this morning and my new TiVo HD which is being set up by the technician as we speak.
> 
> Question: Should the TiVo be unplugged (no power) during the initialization of the TA up to the step where it says to turn on the TiVo (plug it in?), then plug in the USB? Thanks.


My TA question is moot for now. The technician setting up my TiVo HD has left my house in search of cablecards. What a nightmare. After explaining to the CSR two days ago to send experienced tech and at least 4 M-cards, the tech shows up expecting to put a single cablecard into a TV. Yikes! I explain it's a TiVo HD...and get a glimmer of understanding. He thinks he may have an M-card in the truck. He does...one card! I show him TiVo's instructions and he says he's done this before. He checks the coax signal into the house, it's good. Then he tries to put the cablecard into the TiVo before reconnecting the coax cable into the TiVo. I say STOP! That's not what the instructions say. He gets back on track and tries to put the M-card into the TiVo. It won't fit for some reason. He tries harder. Finally he pulls it out; it's cracked. So now he's off to find another truck nearby with some M-cards. I'm gonna be watching like a master surgeon over a two year intern. It's gonna be a long day.

Maybe, just maybe we'll get around to the TA tonight.


----------



## milo99

djones18 said:


> My TA question is moot for now. The technician setting up my TiVo HD has left my house in search of cablecards. What a nightmare. After explaining to the CSR two days ago to send experienced tech and at least 4 M-cards, the tech shows up expecting to put a single cablecard into a TV. Yikes! I explain it's a TiVo HD...and get a glimmer of understanding. He thinks he may have an M-card in the truck. He does...one card! I show him TiVo's instructions and he says he's done this before. He checks the coax signal into the house, it's good. Then he tries to put the cablecard into the TiVo before reconnecting the coax cable into the TiVo. I say STOP! That's not what the instructions say. He gets back on track and tries to put the M-card into the TiVo. It won't fit for some reason. He tries harder. Finally he pulls it out; it's cracked. So now he's off to find another truck nearby with some M-cards. I'm gonna be watching like a master surgeon over a two year intern. It's gonna be a long day.
> 
> Maybe, just maybe we'll get around to the TA tonight.


i didn't realize m cards were available in Fairfax. but if you have a Tivo HD, you only need 1, not 2. the Series 3 need 2.

Single stream cards you need 2, but not M cards.


----------



## jon96cobra

Picked mine up just have to wait till I get home from work to install it. 

One of the people I talked to at Herndon location was trying to tell me I needed to bring in my cable cards to do the installation. I had to explain to them That was not the case. One of the other people behind the counter had to corrrect the person I was talking to. 

I'm just glad the call is automated for the install I might wait till later tonight so I don't mess up any shows recording tonight.


----------



## djones18

jfranklin said:


> The TiVo can be powered up, just make sure that it is running the most recent version of the firmware before you connect the TA to it. Also be sure that the TA is activated (the status light is burning solid) before connecting it to the TiVo via USB. The cable connection can be made between the TA and the TiVo before the activation.


Jody, thanks for the information and tip. My new TiVo HD, activated two days ago, still has version 8. something, so I guess I'll wait till it updates firmware before attaching the TA.


----------



## jfranklin

djones18 said:


> Jody, thanks for the information and tip. My new TiVo HD, activated two days ago, still has version 8. something, so I guess I'll wait till it updates firmware before attaching the TA.


I believe the firmware that supports the TA is version 9 and higher. I would say go ahead and force a connection to TiVo in the network settings menu. Shouldn't take but about an hour to get the update and install. (maybe a little longer since a lot of people will be force updating today)


----------



## bentley01

Timber said:


> btw, huge congrats to TiVo. It could not have been simpler (and more bug-free) at the TiVo end of this.
> 
> Timber, why congratulate TiVo? Afterall, they designied the inferior 1-way product (TiVo Series 3 and HD) in the first place? If they would have made the product 2-way there would be no need for another device like a tuning adapter. I guess you like having another device in your entertainment center? Thanks TiVo!!


----------



## amyflick

Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.


----------



## jfranklin

amyflick said:


> Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.


If that continues for much longer do call in (or if you want to send me your account details directly) so we can verify that everything got setup properly on our end.


----------



## amyflick

The blinking stopped, I turned on the TV and can hear sound from whatever's on the TV, but no picture. So I don't know what the heck is going on.


----------



## jfranklin

amyflick said:


> The blinking stopped, I turned on the TV and can hear sound from whatever's on the TV, but no picture. So I don't know what the heck is going on.


Well you can power down the TiVo and the TA, power up the TA, wait for the light to go on solid, then power up the TiVo. Failing that call in so we can verify account settings and that there's not a signal issue.


----------



## Timber

amyflick said:


> Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.


Did you call up the phone number after you connected the cable and power cables but before you connected the USB?

-=Tim=-


----------



## milo99

amyflick said:


> Arrrgh! The blinking finally stopped, I plugged in the USB cable and now it's blinking again. Nothing on my TV screen. I so hoped this would go smoothly, I guess not.


was your Tivo on when you plugged in the USB?


----------



## JTalbert

bentley01 said:


> Timber, why congratulate TiVo? Afterall, they designied the inferior 1-way product (TiVo Series 3 and HD) in the first place? If they would have made the product 2-way there would be no need for another device like a tuning adapter. I guess you like having another device in your entertainment center? Thanks TiVo!!


I may be wrong, but the reason Tivo only designed a 1 way product instead of a 2 way product, is there is really no two way cards out there. M cards and 2 way product are different. M Cards have two streams. Not in inbound and outbound stream. To be 2 way product that would enable cox VOD and all the other items. Cablelabs is working on such a functionality Cable Card 2.0 (Now Tru2Way), they have been for a while, but will it ever see light, who knows. Again I am just going by what I think I have read in the past. Tivo could have designed the Series 3 and HD boxes with only one card slot, but when Series 3 came out. M cards were not readily avail ( they still are not) and at first the series 3 would not read M Cards, but after a SW update from Tivo it can. So dont blame Tivo for a 1 way product.

Here is a link on info on Tivo working on this.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/06/tivo-still-working-on-a-dvr-with-two-way-features-like-vod/


----------



## amyflick

I called the number before plugging in the usb.

I talked to a person at support because the blinking went on too long and he re-sent the signal or whatever it is that they do. The blinking then stopped.

I think the tivo was on when I plugged in the usb, could that have something to do with it?


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

Very happy to pick mine up over lunch and can't wait to get home to hook it up.


----------



## jfranklin

amyflick said:


> I called the number before plugging in the usb.
> 
> I talked to a person at support because the blinking went on too long and he re-sent the signal or whatever it is that they do. The blinking then stopped.
> 
> I think the tivo was on when I plugged in the usb, could that have something to do with it?


Assuming that your TiVo is running a current version of the software, and that the signal levels are good everything should be fine. If you restart the TA then the TiVo, and all the connections are tight, I would call in to verify that signal levels are good.

Without seeing your account details there's nothing more I can offer.


----------



## amyflick

That's ok, I'm on the phone with support right now.


Hooray, it works! Lookit all these channels I wasn't getting!


----------



## euckersw

I had a weird experience getting my Tivo to "recognize" the TA when plugging the USB cable into the back of the Tivo. I use a wireless adapter that I plug into the lower USB port on the back of the Tivo. Therefore I used the top USB port to plug in the TA. When I did I never got any confirmation screen on the Tivo. Once I unplugged the wireless adapter and plugged the TA into the bottom USB port I got the confirmation screen and everything worked fine. I left it where it is and plugged the wireless adapter into the top USB port, where it works fine as well. Just wanted to pass along that information in case it might help someone else troubleshoot any problems.


----------



## Timber

Everything's working well, spent about 30 minutes moving my Season Pass items over. However Suggestions is still pulling programs from the non-HD versions rather than the HD versions, even tho' removed the non-HD channels from my Channel List. How long before my TiVo wises up? 

Thanks!

-=Tim=-


----------



## Timber

btw, the picture on the Discovery HD Channel is pants-wettingly good. 

-=Tim=-


----------



## thewebgal

Thanks to Milo and everytone involved in this. I picked my CISCO adapter up around 3 and got the hookup done pretty quickly. Hardest part was finding a spare power outlet to plug it into! 
Had my Wireless TIVO adapter in the top USB so I plugged SDV into the lower one. Phoned the Cox number, got it activated, then tied that USB cable to the new adapter - all seemed fine - ran through the channels - wow, even SCFIHD ..
Then, on a silly hunch. I went to Video on Demand -> Netflick, 
and tried to watch a British comedy TV show "League of Gentlemen" - we had tried to watch it last night around 9PM and after a while it started hanging - showed the "retrieving" graphic and after a few of those we gave up.
But today, it was not quite 5PM, so I thought it might work better during the day. Well, it ran about 8 minutes and froze. We didn't get the "retrieving" progress bar, but a full screen freeze. I tried going to the main TV menu and got it, still with a screen capture of the british TV show and the menu overlaid on that - then it completely froze. 

I had to unplug it to force a restart of the TIVOHD.
After that I saw it was blinking so called in and got it "hit" again ...
Be interesting what results the rest of you locals have with that combination ... 
Otherwise, the SDV adapter seems to be working fine!

9PM - an update- after dinner we watched Eli Stone - a TIVOed HD show -
it played fine but I noticed the adapter was blinking again ... 
Afterwards I turned off the TV and headed upstairs ...


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

Got it installed. A couple second delay between channels. I can live with that.

I'm not getting any of the HBOs (SD or HD) or Setanta (298). Anyone else having luck with those or am I missing something here? I haven't gone thru everything on the troubleshooting page, but wanted to ask. Funny that I'm probably going to cancel HBO soon anyways, but Setanta I really want.


----------



## jebbbz

bentley01 said:


> Timber, why congratulate TiVo? Afterall, they designied the inferior 1-way product (TiVo Series 3 and HD) in the first place? If they would have made the product 2-way there would be no need for another device like a tuning adapter. I guess you like having another device in your entertainment center? Thanks TiVo!!


At the time TiVo were designing the S3/THD there was no standard for two-way communications from customer premises to the cableco. (There still isn't.) Even within cable areas there were differences (e.g., smaller systems acquired by a larger company) that meant a given metro area might require several different designs of hardware and software. TiVo can't offetr that many different boxes. With luck, standardization on Tru-2-way will allow TiVo and others to offer two-way services with a single design.

Tunig Adapters must be provided by the cablecos because different areas require different TAs -- you can't take them with you as you move around.

It isn't the cablecards. They work with one-way and two-way devices and don't care about that. They just handle checking to see if the channel you tune to is one you are authorized to receive and then decrypt if needed. The Tuning Adapter handles requests for SDV channels and a cableco could offer SDV base-level unecrypted channels without cablecards at all.


----------



## deaddeeds

My TA is installed and up and running! Watching NFL HD right now. The two second delay is a little annoying but I can live with it.

Gotta give props to COX. Easy pickup at Kingstowne and easy hookup at home!


----------



## shabby46

OK, im an idiot, I plugged in the adapter and followed directions as it said, the light began flashing and I dialed the number, then when the call ended the adapter had powered off. So I turned it back on and it started flashing again. After waiting 20 min with no luck I called back to try to reactivate it and now it is still flashing about 20 min after that call. Any ideas?

Also, does it matter if the tivo was powered on when I set this all up? the directions didnt say anything about it.


----------



## jfranklin

shabby46 said:


> OK, im an idiot, I plugged in the adapter and followed directions as it said, the light began flashing and I dialed the number, then when the call ended the adapter had powered off. So I turned it back on and it started flashing again. After waiting 20 min with no luck I called back to try to reactivate it and now it is still flashing about 20 min after that call. Any ideas?
> 
> Also, does it matter if the tivo was powered on when I set this all up? the directions didnt say anything about it.


The TiVo can be on, but not connected to the TA via USB until the activation takes. If it's still blinking then it might not be added to the account properly. If you want to contact me via PM I can check your account, or you can call in.


----------



## hokiethang

I was on the reserve list as well in Herndon. I got my tuning adaptor, installed it tonight, and i'm now able to watch all the other HD channels :-D. Thanks to everyone at Cox and Tivo who made this a painless process. 

I did manage to break my eSATA cable in the process, so I lost most of my recorded shows, and I have a SIIG cable on order :-(. Oh well. that's what the internet + iTunes is for. :-D


----------



## shabby46

jfranklin said:


> The TiVo can be on, but not connected to the TA via USB until the activation takes. If it's still blinking then it might not be added to the account properly. If you want to contact me via PM I can check your account, or you can call in.


Well, I called the number up here and they of course had no idea what I was talking about with these crazy new adapters. The woman was still very helpful and attempting to solve the problem, so I cant blame her, she is just as new as we are.

I unhooked everything and started over scratch, hopefully it will take this time. It looks like it is flashing at a non-steady rate every now and then, but still waiting.

Just a question for everyone else out there. When I hook it up, it initially starts out solid, then flashes, then the whole TA shuts down. When I press the power button, it starts flashing again and this is when I called since it said to be sure the unit is on when dialing. Does anybody remember if theirs shut off too, or is it just me?


----------



## deaddeeds

Mine Shut Off.


----------



## jcaudle

JTalbert said:


> I may be wrong, but the reason Tivo only designed a 1 way product instead of a 2 way product, is there is really no two way cards out there. M cards and 2 way product are different. M Cards have two streams. Not in inbound and outbound stream. To be 2 way product that would enable cox VOD and all the other items. Cablelabs is working on such a functionality Cable Card 2.0 (Now Tru2Way), they have been for a while, but will it ever see light, who knows. Again I am just going by what I think I have read in the past. Tivo could have designed the Series 3 and HD boxes with only one card slot, but when Series 3 came out. M cards were not readily avail ( they still are not) and at first the series 3 would not read M Cards, but after a SW update from Tivo it can. So dont blame Tivo for a 1 way product.
> 
> Here is a link on info on Tivo working on this.
> 
> http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/06/tivo-still-working-on-a-dvr-with-two-way-features-like-vod/


M Cards have been available for over a year in Fairfax. I have had one ever since getting my Tivo HD in Sep 2007


----------



## Dark Helmet

No joy for me. I called Cox (boy, they don't make it easy to talk to a person, do they? I swear I spend 5 minutes just navigating the phone menu) and they tried to send a "reload" message, but it didn't work. They wanted to send out a technician. I told them I'd call them back.


----------



## Dark Helmet

shabby46 said:


> Just a question for everyone else out there. When I hook it up, it initially starts out solid, then flashes, then the whole TA shuts down. When I press the power button, it starts flashing again and this is when I called since it said to be sure the unit is on when dialing. Does anybody remember if theirs shut off too, or is it just me?


Mine did the same thing. Hrm. Sounds like we're in the same boat.


----------



## shabby46

Dark Helmet said:


> Mine did the same thing. Hrm. Sounds like we're in the same boat.


Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.

I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.


----------



## frogger22

I will offer my kudos too, to both Cox and Tivo. The pickup at Herndon was easy (the lousy weather aside), and the install was simple. I am going to buy a longer USB cable this weekend so I can move the box down with some of my older AV components (out of sight). As luck would have it, there is a second cable port behind the cabinet, thanks to the old Media General dual-cable system.


----------



## Dark Helmet

shabby46 said:


> Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.
> 
> I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.


So, I called back, and I got a different guy. He bumped me to a supervisor (he wasn't available, but he called me back after 5-10 minutes), said, "Whoops, it's not set up right", did some magic, and it now works!

Perhaps try calling again?


----------



## shabby46

shabby46 said:


> Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.
> 
> I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.


OK, last thing then I will shut up and let everyone who has working equipment talk here. Now after restarting it, the flashing went from a steady state to pausing for a while on the 6th flash, then repeating. Im hoping that there is just a problem with the connection on Cox's end or something and when I wake up all is well.

I will update if things change.


----------



## Dark Helmet

Note to everyone - if your tuning adapter is activated and plugged into the TiVo during a recording, recording will stop. Not the end of the world, and it's a rather tiny corner case, but just figured it's worth mentioning.


----------



## acslater

shabby46 said:


> Yeah, Ive tried unplugging it and letting it sit for a while then repeating the process. i wonder if it is having trouble connecting now or what. It is flashing differently now than it was earlier. Now I am getting 8 flashes, then a moment of nothing, then repeat. Earlier it was flashing pretty much constantly.
> 
> I hung up too because they didnt seem to know anything and were only holding me up.


Same problem with me. Just blinks forever. I made sure to follow the directions exactly. JFranklin, I sent you a PM.


----------



## Miller

I picked up the Tuning Adapter after work today in Herndon. Hooked it up and I am still unable to get a good chunk of the HD channels I am supposed to. Yes, I followed the instructions. I work in the IT field and the install was not difficult. First, when I called to activate, the light would not stop flashing even after 45 minutes. I called Cox, they reset it, and it stopped flashing. I connected the USB to the TiVo, but was missing a lot of HD channels even though I did get more than before. I went through all three of the troubleshooting steps. The third step involves restarting the TiVo. After the TiVo came back up, the Tuning Adapter continued blinking. I called Cox back, they reset it again, but it did not stop blinking. I was told to follow the three troubleshooting steps again. It is too late to do that this evening; I will try it again tomorrow after work. Besides, I am currently recording CSI. The wife will kill me if I do something to screw up that recording.


----------



## milo99

i wonder if there's some common thread here for folks who are having issues. I know one person mentioned a wireless adapter plugged into the other usb port?

my setup is using a cable ethernet, not wireless, and i do have an eSATA MyDVR expander, and it worked without flaws.

DarkHelmet got his working after an initial "misconfiguration" ...maybe different setups require something slightly different done in the back end?? wouldn't hurt for you guys to post your configurations, anything you can think of that's not bone stock.


----------



## Dark Helmet

milo99 said:


> DarkHelmet got his working after an initial "misconfiguration" ...maybe different setups require something slightly different done in the back end?? wouldn't hurt for you guys to post your configurations, anything you can think of that's not bone stock.


So, the supervisor I spoke with (the guy who ultimately fixed the problem) said that the sales guy (I assume he meaint the guy at the service counter) missed something. I picked up mine from Herndon after work, and with the crappy traffic today it ended up being close to 6pm. Perhaps the guy you picked it up from did the "right" thing? You got yours earlier in the day, right? Did everyone who had a non-working TA pick theirs up in the evening?

(BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? )


----------



## milo99

Dark Helmet said:


> So, the supervisor I spoke with (the guy who ultimately fixed the problem) said that the sales guy (I assume he meaint the guy at the service counter) missed something. I picked up mine from Herndon after work, and with the crappy traffic today it ended up being close to 6pm. Perhaps the guy you picked it up from did the "right" thing? You got yours earlier in the day, right? Did everyone who had a non-working TA pick theirs up in the evening?
> 
> (BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? )


i have no idea what the woman at the counter would have done. she asked for my number and pin for the account, went in back and picked it up. Box was closed and everything inside unopened.

and uh... some of us just have jobs that allow us certain... flexibilities... like working from home on occasion


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

Dark Helmet said:


> (BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? )


LOL. Just short trip (fairfax) to herndon at lunch

Still missing some channels (hbos/setanta) so it's not 100%, but getting closer.


----------



## milo99

EvilYankeeFan said:


> LOL. Just short trip (fairfax) to herndon at lunch
> 
> Still missing some channels (hbos/setanta) so it's not 100%, but getting closer.


is setanta a premium channel like HBO? you may have to actually call customer service to get them to give those channels. What do i mean? apparently some of hte premiums are provisioned separately.

I had to do that with Showtime (even tho it's not on SDV). they only gave me regular channels, and after calling tech support, the guy told me i needed to get customer service to give me the HD Shotime channel. Did that and solved the problem. (this was all a few weeks ago)


----------



## JTalbert

ok, I cant get mine to work either, blink blink blink blink. I called Cox, they said it was not setup in the computer right, did some magic, nothing, I thought it was fine, she had me turn it off and back on again and it was a solid light, I was like woo hoo, but as soon as I hung up with her it started blinking again. 

Story of my life, nothing goes right...


----------



## acslater

Setup: Cable ethernet and nothing else special.

I did pick mine up this evening.

Tech support had no idea what I was talking about. They are sending a tech out to fix it but I have no confidence in that working. I'll probably end up canceling the visit and trying another TA I guess.


----------



## amyflick

I picked mine up at Kingstowne first thing this morning. After spending some quality time on the phone with tech support, it works fine. I have wireless. 

I seem to have lost channel 4 though. It's strange, 704 works but not 4.


----------



## Dark Helmet

milo99 said:


> i have no idea what the woman at the counter would have done. she asked for my number and pin for the account, went in back and picked it up. Box was closed and everything inside unopened.


Right ... but there are two holes on the back of the box and through one of them you can see the device address. The guy at the counter looked through there, did some typing on his computer, and then I had to sign something that had device numbers on it (it was the receipt for the box).



> and uh... some of us just have jobs that allow us certain... flexibilities... like working from home on occasion


Heh, must be nice. I schlep to the District every day.


----------



## shabby46

Dark Helmet said:


> So, the supervisor I spoke with (the guy who ultimately fixed the problem) said that the sales guy (I assume he meaint the guy at the service counter) missed something. I picked up mine from Herndon after work, and with the crappy traffic today it ended up being close to 6pm. Perhaps the guy you picked it up from did the "right" thing? You got yours earlier in the day, right? Did everyone who had a non-working TA pick theirs up in the evening?
> 
> (BTW, all of you that picked yours up earlier ... do you people not have jobs? )


I called back and the guy said he had just fixed somebody else's problem (I assume yours) and managed to configure my account pretty fast. I then was not getting any of the SDV channels, but the blinking had stopped. After about 40 minutes of restarting and messing with stuff on his end I remember what somebody had posted and switched the USB to the other slot (lower one). Instantly the TA was recognized and began working.

I found out that the upper USB port on my tivo doesnt seem to work, or at least doesnt work with the TA or wireless adapter. Luckily there is a port in front of the TA, so I just stuck it in there instead, but this might be the problem with other people too. Good luck everyone.


----------



## milo99

shabby46 said:


> I called back and the guy said he had just fixed somebody else's problem (I assume yours) and managed to configure my account pretty fast. I then was not getting any of the SDV channels, but the blinking had stopped. After about 40 minutes of restarting and messing with stuff on his end I remember what somebody had posted and *switched the USB to the other slot (lower one). *Instantly the TA was recognized and began working.
> 
> I found out that the upper USB port on my tivo doesnt seem to work, or at least doesnt work with the TA or wireless adapter. Luckily there is a port in front of the TA, so I just stuck it in there instead, but this might be the problem with other people too. Good luck everyone.


iiiiiiiiinteresting. mine is in the lower slot too.. that was the first i tried...


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

milo99 said:


> is setanta a premium channel like HBO? you may have to actually call customer service to get them to give those channels. What do i mean? apparently some of hte premiums are provisioned separately.
> 
> I had to do that with Showtime (even tho it's not on SDV). they only gave me regular channels, and after calling tech support, the guy told me i needed to get customer service to give me the HD Shotime channel. Did that and solved the problem. (this was all a few weeks ago)


Yep Setanta is a premium. I thought it was SDV as it was just recently added. HBOs I thought were SDV as well. I did have a problem when I got HBO where the HD HBO wasn't showing up on the SA DVR. They turned it on, but as it never showed on the Tivo I assumed SDV. I'll give COX a yell. Thanks for the recommendation.


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

milo99 said:


> iiiiiiiiinteresting. mine is in the lower slot too.. that was the first i tried...


I have my in the upper slot. Wireless in lower one.


----------



## jon96cobra

Just finished getting mine set up at 7pm and I'm getting all the HD stations. I have it plugged into the top slot and my tivo is hard wired to the network.


----------



## Timber

EvilYankeeFan said:


> I have my in the upper slot. Wireless in lower one.


+1

-=Tim=-


----------



## djones18

djones18 said:


> My TA question is moot for now. The technician setting up my TiVo HD has left my house in search of cablecards. What a nightmare. After explaining to the CSR two days ago to send experienced tech and at least 4 M-cards, the tech shows up expecting to put a single cablecard into a TV. Yikes! I explain it's a TiVo HD...and get a glimmer of understanding. He thinks he may have an M-card in the truck. He does...one card! I show him TiVo's instructions and he says he's done this before. He checks the coax signal into the house, it's good. Then he tries to put the cablecard into the TiVo before reconnecting the coax cable into the TiVo. I say STOP! That's not what the instructions say. He gets back on track and tries to put the M-card into the TiVo. It won't fit for some reason. He tries harder. Finally he pulls it out; it's cracked. So now he's off to find another truck nearby with some M-cards. I'm gonna be watching like a master surgeon over a two year intern. It's gonna be a long day.
> 
> Maybe, just maybe we'll get around to the TA tonight.


My Saga ends happily with the help of Jody Franklin at Cox Tech Central. But first things first. The Cox tech who came to my house earlier found another M-card, returned, tried to get it working for two more hours and failed. Total job time so far four hours. No wonder Cox hates these things. He and I were frustrated. He left...and left the M-Card. On a whim, I rebooted my new TiVo HD and it began downloading Version 11 firmware...something it had not done when prepping for the tech visit. Following this update, I again inserted the M-Card, got all the right screens, called Cox to activate the card and to my delight it worked.

Next comes the TA adapter I picked up from Cox Kingstowne Thursday morning. I followed installation instructions, called Cox automated line, and waited. It would not activate. Called Cox Tech line. They directed me to billing. Billing had to update my TA service (their words), and directed me back to Tech folks. TA still would not activate. Tech folks contacted Jody...my hero! Within minutes Jody had the TA activated and now everything works. I suspect part of my TA problem may be that I just activated a new M-Card in my TiVo HD. Perhaps Jody has more info on this.

On this journey to getting my TiVo HD and TA working, Cox folks were helpful. This includes Ms Falk who managed reservations and early distribution of TAs and Jody Franklin of this forum. Some Cox folks knowledge of the TA was limited (except for Jody) and I expected this. They went out of their way to find the requisite expertise within the Cox organization to help me and at no point left me hanging. After a long, sometimes frustrating day, in this instance Cox worked for me!

I'm now back in TiVo nirvana after waiting two years for M-cards and SDV issues to be worked out. I suspect the technical issues in the TiVo, cablecard, TA, Cox headend, account services activation equation are complex and form a precarious technical balancing act. Not perfect but far better than the alternatives for me.

Cheers.


----------



## shabby46

milo99 said:


> iiiiiiiiinteresting. mine is in the lower slot too.. that was the first i tried...


Im not saying that the slot necessarily matters, but my upper slot didnt seem to work for the wireless adapter either, so there appears to be something wrong with it. Had I not seen the other posting about switching the USB I would probably still be without the channels.

I plugged the wireless adapter into the front of TA and it lit up, so it is getting power, does anybody know if this port will allow me to connect to the network, or if it is just for servicing the TA? I forgot to check before I left today.

sidenote: These doughnuts from Milan Bakery in FC are fantastic. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.


----------



## deaddeeds

In summary, I went to Kingtstowne at 5pm on the 11th. The CSR pulled out a TA, then she looked at the back of the TA and typed in a number into her system and then printed out a receipt and I was off. After I plugged in the power to the TA, the lights did a lot of blinking then it turned off. I turned it back on and followed the rest of the instructions. I have the TA plugged into the Top USB Slot with my USB Wireless Adapter in the Bottom USB slot.


----------



## jon96cobra

Sounds like to me if the wireless was plugged into the top you need to leave it plugged in the same port when you add the TA. Since I have mine hard wired I just plugged it into the top and fired right up. Could be something in the software it remembers what was plugged in the ports when the system is shut down. 

I was wondering if the tivo is able to see the usb port on the TA or if its just for firmware updates.


----------



## Dark Helmet

So, after some initial pain and two calls to tech support, I got the TA working last night, and I have all of the new HD channels and the lower channels are now in digital as well! Woo-hoo!

Thanks to everyone on this forum and at Cox that made this a reality!

Jody, just for curiosity's sake ... when people's accounts are "fixed", what exactly is being fixed? How is it in the system "wrong"?


----------



## JTalbert

Even after calling last night and them "fixing" things in the system. Its still not working for me. I am going to have to try to call them again tonight.


----------



## jfranklin

djones18 said:


> I'm now back in TiVo nirvana after waiting two years for M-cards and SDV issues to be worked out. I suspect the technical issues in the TiVo, cablecard, TA, Cox headend, account services activation equation are complex and form a precarious technical balancing act. Not perfect but far better than the alternatives for me.


On behalf of Ms. Falk (who I don't know, but I'm going to speak for her anyway) and the rest of Cox thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad everything is working well.

I've spent a little time today compiling a list of the adaptors that went out, and what their status is. So far I've only come across two that required a tech to come out, and one of those seems to be a faulty adaptor.

All in all this launch has gone fairly well. There are a few processes that still need some attention, and those will certainly be addressed before the next batch of units is made available. I do want to thank all of you, though, for providing feedback both here and in private message to me. It will go a long way to making sure this goes much more smoothly for those who aren't as technically inclined as you all are, and just expect things to work.

Everyone that has contacted me privately has either had their issue resolved, or I'm awaiting them to advise me of their service status.

Anyone still needing assistance, please call in, or PM me your information, and we'll get things straignened out.


----------



## jfranklin

Dark Helmet said:


> So, after some initial pain and two calls to tech support, I got the TA working last night, and I have all of the new HD channels and the lower channels are now in digital as well! Woo-hoo!
> 
> Thanks to everyone on this forum and at Cox that made this a reality!
> 
> Jody, just for curiosity's sake ... when people's accounts are "fixed", what exactly is being fixed? How is it in the system "wrong"?


Without going into too much detail, the main issue has been that the adaptors were not being assigned to a service occurance, even though all the correct codes were in place. So there was nothing binding the adaptor to the cards in our system. There have been a few, less common, issues. That is the big one, though. To make that clear, though, the setup flys in the face of how all other video equipment is placed on an account, so that things weren't setup properly isn't all that unexpected.

We're still learning, and again you all are helping with that. Thanks.


----------



## Miller

Here is the problem I am having. I activated my TA last night over the phone, but it kept blinking for 45 minutes. I called Cox support and was told that my TA had been reset. This stopped the blinking and I was able to receive some of my HD channels, but was still missing a large chunk of them. I tried all three steps listed on the troubleshooting guide including restarting the TiVo. After restarting the TiVo, the TA began blinking again. I called Cox support and was told that the TA was reset again, however it was still blinking. I was asked to unplug the USB cable for one minute and try again. It was getting late and I did not want to get into an involved affair at this time so I let it keep on blinking. I got up this morning and it was still blinking. When I got home from work, it was on steady so I tried it again. His time I got all but two of my HD channels. Now when I go through my HD channels there are between two and five that will not show even after waiting 30 seconds on the channel. The odd thing is they are never the same channels. For example, I will go through the list and 724, 747, 747 and 748 will not work. Try again and now it is 711, 729, 747, and 748 will not work, but the all the others will. Also, 747 and 748 have never worked. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I am fearful of changing my Season Passes to the HD channels, as even though it is working now, it may not be working when the program I want to record is on.


----------



## Miller

After making the previous post I went back to the TiVo and now all of the channels are working. If they continue to work for two or three days I will consider changing my season passes.


----------



## JTalbert

Oh my what h*ll I went through tonight. I called Tech support, TA was still not working. They said my account needed "Balanced" and I needed to talk to billing. Billing tried to "balance" and deleted my TA from my account. Said Tech support would have to re-add it, switched back to TS. Who told me oh, the can balance and activate, but the cannot add anything to my account, Talk to billing. Talked to billing again. They said they cannot add anything to the account. So I had to talk to sales. Sales re-added it. Went back to TS, they tried to balance, but could not "balance" it, put me on hold, then went back to the main queue for some reason, then finally got someone in TS who was able to do something, not sure what he did, but not its working. Except one channel that I could get before, but cant now is 91. Nik, which is my daughters favorite channel. I am rebooting my Tivo to see if that will fix that. So far I am not very happy after spending over and hour and a half on the phone with Cox tonight... I understand this is new technology, but a few of the people I talked to did not know what a Tuning adapter was. 

Oh joy, now I am trying to reboot and its going into a constant reboot cycle. I guess I will have to unplug my TA from my box because its not happy. I know someone said new SW will be released in January.. I hope so..


----------



## JTalbert

ok, rebooted my Tivo, and NIK is back. Daughter is happy!!


----------



## djones18

jfranklin said:


> On behalf of Ms. Falk (who I don't know, but I'm going to speak for her anyway) and the rest of Cox thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad everything is working well.
> 
> I've spent a little time today compiling a list of the adaptors that went out, and what their status is. So far I've only come across two that required a tech to come out, and one of those seems to be a faulty adaptor.
> 
> All in all this launch has gone fairly well. There are a few processes that still need some attention, and those will certainly be addressed before the next batch of units is made available. I do want to thank all of you, though, for providing feedback both here and in private message to me. It will go a long way to making sure this goes much more smoothly for those who aren't as technically inclined as you all are, and just expect things to work.
> 
> Everyone that has contacted me privately has either had their issue resolved, or I'm awaiting them to advise me of their service status.
> 
> Anyone still needing assistance, please call in, or PM me your information, and we'll get things straignened out.


Jody,

Unfortunately, further problems. I sent you a PM to see if you can help.


----------



## mcdannej

I'm sure I'm one of the many who have been lurking this (and other) threads about SDV and benefitted today from the work of those of you who took the time to harass fairfax cty and cox. I set up two Tivos without incident today. A credit to you guys and to Cox. Not to diminish the problems others are having, but just a shout out to those less lazy than me.

Thanks.


----------



## deaddeeds

I lost power yesterday while I was at work and as such the TA and my TiVo re-booted. I did not get home until late and noticed my TiVo was NOT recording my newly re-created HD season pass on one of the SDV channels. 

TiVo would not recognize the TA until I clicked continue when prompted by TiVo. It would be nice if TiVo would just recognize the TA and not require user action to operate. I am thinking this will probably also occur when TiVo gets new software updates and reboots.

Anybody else seen this?


----------



## warewolf

So we get our SDV channels, but we lose MRV. I want my MRV. The last time I called about this the CS rep said "It's correct". Obviously it's not correct.


----------



## Revolutionary

Well, got my TA installed and am enjoying so many HD channels I don't know what to do.

Glad I had it delivered by truck roll. Dude was here for an hour installing it. Had the "won't stop blinking" problem, which wasn't resolved until he called in _twice_. Once he had that done, he had to call again to get them to ping it with the channel data (EMMs in the tuning adapter diagnostics menu, needs to be "more than zero"). Now all is lovely!

Thanks Cox and Tivo!


----------



## amyflick

I can't get Center Ice with the tuning adapter. I'm getting service call tomorrow. Spent a good while on the phone with tech support with no luck. Anyone else here get the Center Ice package?


----------



## Miller

I was so happy when I first got my Tuning Adapter, but then it did not work the first night. That is OK; it mysteriously started working the second night. I was so happy when I first got my Tuning Adapter working, but then on the third night I tried to transfer shows form my TiVo to my PC. This is when I discovered that apparently everything besides local channel broadcasts are copy protected. (It is illegal to copy protect the local channels.) Granted I did not check EVERY channel, but the ones I did check (Turner Classic Movies, AMC, TV Land, Fox News, and several others) were copy protected. Now, I am not so excited again. Grrrrrrr!!!!! Cox will think I am never going to be happy with them. They might just be right.


----------



## TheLongshot

My tuning adapter is dead. I get no light and hear a clicking sound from it when I plug it in. I fear the worst...


----------



## djones18

My three day nightmare is finally over with the help of some very talented Cox Tech and Sales Folks. My TA finally works with my new TiVo HD. My one remaining Cox HD/DVR works again. I wouldn't recommend you use my approach to new TiVo HD setup but slow the process down.

Thursday, I had my new TiVo HD, M-Card, and Tuning Adapter installed. I did pre-activate and setup my TiVo HD two days earlier (not enough time to allow for updates). The first day was frustrating but ultimately fruitful as the new TiVo HD, M-Card, and TA finally synced. The TiVo began a firmware download from Ver 8 to 11 in the middle of installation and this really mucked things up. The following day, Friday, I turned in one of two Cox HD/DVRs which the TiVo HD replaced. 

The real nightmare began when I returned one of my Cox HD/DVRs Friday. The Cox agent at Kingstowne retail store inadvertantly deleted the one remaining Cox HD/DVR I had at home. I should have looked closer at the receipt...lesson learned! Then, the system somehow delinked my TA from my M-Card. So, now the remaining Cox Box says I'm not authorized to use it and the TiVo HD no longer works with the TA. Yikes!

I troubleshoot Friday PM, three hours on the phone to Cox Billing/Accounting, Tech, and Sales, to no avail. The system will not accept that my remaining Cox Box is at my house. Also, the TA is still blinking, deactivated, and no amount of activation signals will bring it back to life. I'm so fatigued by Cox elevator music and automated menus I'm done for the day.

Saturday morning I march into the Cox Store with my Cox Box (to prove it really was with me and not turned in), serial numbers for all my equipment, and all Cox receipts. One hour later and numerous calls between the Store, Tech, and Dispatch we think we've got it sorted out. Apparently, Friday morning when the wrong Cox Box was typed into the system as being returned, my remaining Cox Box deactivated, all Cox HD/DVRs were deleted from my account, and my TA while still showing on my account was delinked from my M-Card.

The Cox Store folks assured me all should work when I returned home, but to be sure, the Supervisor at Dispatch who helped solve my problems would call in 30 minutes to confirm. Good thing! Got home, had to reboot the TA and reconnect the USB cable to the TiVo HD...it worked...yippee. Next, I rehooked up the Cox Box and it's no-go. Still not authorized or activated. Dispatch Supervisor calls and we spend the next two hours re-activating the Cox Box.

It's now Sunday morning. Everything works! But I feel precariously balanced on a technological tightrope where the slightest wind will blow me off. I relate this not to point fingers at Cox...they spent a inordinant amount of time and manpower on me...but to help new TiVo HD owners avoid my pitfalls.

If you want specifics on all the technical hurdles in this effort, PM me. 

Observation: TA/M-Card/TiVo HD sync-up process covers several divisions within the Cox organization (Sales, Billing/Accounting, Tech, Dispatch), thus creating a complex coordination process. The customer can be bounced between many divisions to solve problems. Time-consuming and frustrating. Cox would be wise to refine this prior to general TA release.

Cheers.


----------



## Revolutionary

Well, so much for the honeymoon.

Yes, everything works and I can watch and record all the new HD channels.

But many, many channels are now flagged CCI 0x02. Every SDV HD channel is set at 02, and now many of the first 101 channels also are, even if they weren't before. For instance, the SD versions of SciFi, USA, TNT, and Discovery are all 0x02. Oddly, TBSHD is set at 0x02, but TBS SD is 0x00. 

That's just a sampling.

Bottom line: many of the channels that I watch regularly and that I TTG for my morning commute are now off limits to Tivo Desktop. Unacceptable.


----------



## jfranklin

A few of you have PMed me about the copy protection bit, but I just wanted to let you all know that I will be checking into that. My contact and I won't both be at work again until Wednesday, so I don't be able to do much until then.

It doesn't seem right, though, the programs that are coming up as copy once. As soon as I know something I'll pass it on here.

p.s. Not that anyone has commented about it, but I wanted to make sure you all were aware that while I have no problems helping you all out with service issues, I do not (as a rule) get time off the phone to address these issues. The launch day was the exception, and I don't have access to the systems when I'm at home, so I can only work on things when I'm at work and when there are no calls in queue.

I just wanted to make sure you all understood if I don't get back to you for a few days, and ask that you contact customer support if the problem you're having is one that needs a quick responce.

O'kay, I'm done... back to work.


----------



## Miller

jfranklin said:


> A few of you have PMed me about the copy protection bit, but I just wanted to let you all know that I will be checking into that. My contact and I won't both be at work again until Wednesday, so I don't be able to do much until then.
> 
> It doesn't seem right, though, the programs that are coming up as copy once. As soon as I know something I'll pass it on here.
> 
> p.s. Not that anyone has commented about it, but I wanted to make sure you all were aware that while I have no problems helping you all out with service issues, I do not (as a rule) get time off the phone to address these issues. The launch day was the exception, and I don't have access to the systems when I'm at home, so I can only work on things when I'm at work and when there are no calls in queue.
> 
> I just wanted to make sure you all understood if I don't get back to you for a few days, and ask that you contact customer support if the problem you're having is one that needs a quick responce.
> 
> O'kay, I'm done... back to work.


Believe me, we appreciate anything that you can do.


----------



## amyflick

Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.

Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.


----------



## Miller

amyflick said:


> Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.
> 
> Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.


Nobody mentioned this when I picked up my TA, however, the Cox literature in the box mentioned the issue. I believe it was mentioned in both the set up instructions and again in the troubleshooting steps.


----------



## Revolutionary

amyflick said:


> Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.
> 
> Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.


I recall reading about a problem affecting certain adapters the prevents certain channels from mapping properly, but I'll be darned if I can find where I read that now. So they may not have been blowing smoke. I don't get Center Ice (people still watch hockey?) , so I haven't experienced this behavior myself.


----------



## dcollens

I picked my TA on Friday night when I got off the plane and installed on Saturday morning.

It worked just fine with no issues. I haven't bee using TTG so have not tried that, but if it doesn't work for a while I won't be too upset.

And there was a notification in the box that there was a bug for some of the channels not being there.

Thanks to everyone - particularly Milo99 - for getting this device out to us all.

dc


----------



## MFletch

amyflick said:


> Was anyone told about a bug in the TA when picking it up? The guy came for the service call, and said he'd stopped in at Kingstowne prior to coming here. They told him that there is a bug in the TA that causes some channels to not come in. Apparently the Center Ice channels are part of that. He also said that Kingstowne told him we should be aware of this issue because we were told about it at pickup. Obviously, I wasn't aware of it. If I was, I wouldn't have wasted all that time on the phone with tech support yesterday and wouldn't have had the service call. He said a patch will be pushed to the TA around Jan 15th.
> 
> Jody, are you out there and do you know anything about this issue? I just wonder if they told me this because they couldn't figure out why I can't get those channels. At any rate, I've waited so long to get the TA, I can wait a few more weeks for the patch.


I wasn't told about this issue when I picked up my TA at Kingstowne but did read about it in the documents that came with the unit. I too subscribe to NHL Center Ice (yes, there are some who still watch hockey  ) and I was planning to call Cox to see if this will be resolved with the software update which I believe is scheduled for later in December or early January, again according to the literature that came with the unit. I did go through the troubleshooting steps that Cox listed but nothing restored the Center Ice channels.

Before I forget, thanks to all of you who worked so hard on getting this issue resolved. I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of months following the progress of situation after upgrading to a TiVo HD to replace one of our Cox DVRs.


----------



## amyflick

Revolutionary said:


> (people still watch hockey?)


Ha, yes people still watch hockey!!!

Duh, it is mentioned in the troubleshooting guide. I totally missed it. My only defense is that I was so excited to get the thing, I didn't read the paperwork all the way through. Hopefully the patch will fix the problem.


----------



## shabby46

All is well thus far with my TA. I really dont notice the delay that much that others have mentioned. Maybe it is because I spend some of my time using Dish network which is always slow switching channels and got used to it.

I did however have my Tivo Freeze on the now playing screen twice last night in a little over an hour. When a program was done, it went back to the screen and showed the background but no programs and became unresponsive. I dont think this is TA related, but I never have had my unit freeze before, and twice in an hour was a little suspicious.


----------



## djones18

shabby46 said:


> All is well thus far with my TA. I really dont notice the delay that much that others have mentioned. Maybe it is because I spend some of my time using Dish network which is always slow switching channels and got used to it.
> 
> I did however have my Tivo Freeze on the now playing screen twice last night in a little over an hour. When a program was done, it went back to the screen and showed the background but no programs and became unresponsive. I dont think this is TA related, but I never have had my unit freeze before, and twice in an hour was a little suspicious.


I've had this happen once since I received my TA last week. I had to unplug TiVo and reboot. Following reboot, I had to disconnect TA USB cable to TiVo for one minute and reconnect to get TA synced.

This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.

Anyone else experience this?


----------



## Timber

Cox added a bunch of HD stations yesterday. I'm getting no signal and a "you need a cablecard" message when I tune to them. Is everyone having this problem and is there anything I can do about it? 

(btw, any plans to add BBCHD (is there such a thing) to the lineup?  )

-=Tim=-


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

Timber said:


> Cox added a bunch of HD stations yesterday. I'm getting no signal and a "you need a cablecard" message when I tune to them. Is everyone having this problem and is there anything I can do about it?
> 
> (btw, any plans to add BBCHD (is there such a thing) to the lineup?  )
> 
> -=Tim=-


I would love to have BBCHD. To see the stuff that Kim and Aggie find will be shocking even more!!


----------



## shabby46

djones18 said:


> I've had this happen once since I received my TA last week. I had to unplug TiVo and reboot. Following reboot, I had to disconnect TA USB cable to TiVo for one minute and reconnect to get TA synced.
> 
> This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.
> 
> Anyone else experience this?


After both of my freezes, the TA came right back to life upon powering up. I hope that what you are experiencing is not a common problem since I seem to have power outages on occasion at my place.


----------



## deaddeeds

djones18 said:


> I've had this happen once since I received my TA last week. I had to unplug TiVo and reboot. Following reboot, I had to disconnect TA USB cable to TiVo for one minute and reconnect to get TA synced.
> 
> This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.
> 
> Anyone else experience this?


In an earlier post I noted this problem. I lost power Friday and it would not record until I confirmed that TiVo was connected to a TA. I did not have to remove or reconnect anything, I just had to wait for TiVo to re-establish its link with the TA. This is a problem that needs to be investigated/fixed or else people are going to start missing shows.


----------



## shabby46

Just a few more things in case it hasnt been posted yet:

When I was talking to the tech support last week (the first time) while we were waiting for the TA to do anything, the woman informed me that we are all allowed up to 3 TA's for free. I assume that they do not have that many now, but in the future that is a possibility. I was actually considering going with a regular DVR box in my bedroom, but might consider getting another tivo there now too.

For anyone else who is interested, I posted earlier that my upper USB port was not working and this seemed to be the problem with my TA at first. I went ahead and plugged my wireless adapter into the front USB of the TA to see if that would funtion as an extra USB port on for the tivo since the TA was taking up the last free one. The Wireless lit up and I left it at that thinking it might have been working, but checked later and had no signal. Instead, I found my old USB 4-port hub (no external power needed) and ran that to the Tivo and the Wireless adapter and TA to the Hub, and sure enough both work fine now. I will probably go ahead and hopefully exchange my unit at some point, but for anyone else who might have a similar problem but is not under any warranty, this is a good fix for the time being.

Lastly, I did not notice any addition of HD yesterday, so I was not able to check on whether I received those channels or not. I had a message said that a new channel was added around 270 or so, but that was all. I will look when I get home today.


----------



## Dark Helmet

Timber said:


> Cox added a bunch of HD stations yesterday. I'm getting no signal and a "you need a cablecard" message when I tune to them. Is everyone having this problem and is there anything I can do about it?


I saw those messages as well, but those channels didn't appear on my Cox cable box either. And on my Cox Cable Box had a channel with the call sign of "NEWCH" and that channel had a message saying that new channels would be available on the 16th of December (today). So I'm guessing that the new channels got added to the Tribune feed before they were actually available from Cox.

(My guess about the "You need a CableCard" message is that is displayed when the TiVo tries to tune a channel that does not appear in it's channel map; in this case it's a little odd because we DO have CableCards but don't yet have the channels in the CableCard/TA channel map).


----------



## Dark Helmet

djones18 said:


> This begs a larger question. If the TA USB cable must be removed and reconnected every time the TiVo drops power or reboots, we're in for some lost recordings while away if we have a power dropout. I'd hate to start thinking about connecting a Universal Power Supply (UPS) to my system just to keep the TA in sync.
> 
> Anyone else experience this?


I had a couple of power blinks over the weekend; everything came back up fine, no need to unplug the TA or confirm any screen on the TiVo that the TA was available. It just all started up and worked.

(I didn't have anything set to record, so maybe it's possible that there was a screen when I turned it back on and I just hit one of the remote buttons before I saw the screen. I guess that's easy enough to check).


----------



## Revolutionary

Dark Helmet said:


> I had a couple of power blinks over the weekend; everything came back up fine, no need to unplug the TA or confirm any screen on the TiVo that the TA was available. It just all started up and worked.
> 
> (I didn't have anything set to record, so maybe it's possible that there was a screen when I turned it back on and I just hit one of the remote buttons before I saw the screen. I guess that's easy enough to check).


Same experience when the power blinked out Saturday night. Everything started up just fine without my involvement. Same thing happened when I froze up the Tivo (I was managing my to do list a little too quickly for Tivo's liking) and had to pull the power. Didn't have to fiddle with the TA at all.

[Dominion rant] Speaking of power outages, I moved to the Vienna area from the Fair Oaks area earlier this year, and you'd think I moved to Mosul with how often the power goes out. We had maybe 4 power outages in 4 years in Fair Oaks; we get 4 per month at the new place! Its like a third-world-freaking-country up here...). [/Dominion rant]


----------



## Revolutionary

shabby46 said:


> After both of my freezes, the TA came right back to life upon powering up. I hope that what you are experiencing is not a common problem since I seem to have power outages on occasion at my place.


Buy an UPS and put both the Tivo and the adapter on it.


----------



## Dark Helmet

Revolutionary said:


> [Dominion rant] Speaking of power outages, I moved to the Vienna area from the Fair Oaks area earlier this year, and you'd think I moved to Mosul with how often the power goes out. We had maybe 4 power outages in 4 years in Fair Oaks; we get 4 per month at the new place! Its like a third-world-freaking-country up here...). [/Dominion rant]


I don't think we live that far apart 

I suspect in Fair Oaks you had underground power service. From what I've seen in the Vienna area we have a lot of overhead power lines, and those are more vulnerable to things like branches and crows (no kidding, I lost power once because a crow perched on my transformer). I also have gotten countless surges on my cable and telephone lines that zapped a bunch of equipment. My advice? Invest in a whole-house surge protector and cable/telephone surge protectors as well. You could always try calling people up and complaining ... but when I did that, I got the classic runaround.


----------



## tim5055

Revolutionary said:


> [Dominion rant] Speaking of power outages, I moved to the Vienna area from the Fair Oaks area earlier this year, and you'd think I moved to Mosul with how often the power goes out. We had maybe 4 power outages in 4 years in Fair Oaks; we get 4 per month at the new place! Its like a third-world-freaking-country up here...). [/Dominion rant]


Well, that is something new for me to worry about. Just bought a house in Vienna (moving from Comcast area of Atlanta).

I was worried about Cox having any TAs left, now I guess I don't have to worry, no power at the house


----------



## Timber

Dark Helmet said:


> I saw those messages as well, but those channels didn't appear on my Cox cable box either. And on my Cox Cable Box had a channel with the call sign of "NEWCH" and that channel had a message saying that new channels would be available on the 16th of December (today). So I'm guessing that the new channels got added to the Tribune feed before they were actually available from Cox.
> 
> (My guess about the "You need a CableCard" message is that is displayed when the TiVo tries to tune a channel that does not appear in it's channel map; in this case it's a little odd because we DO have CableCards but don't yet have the channels in the CableCard/TA channel map).


Stations coming in now. :up::up:

-=Tim=-


----------



## milo99

Dark Helmet said:


> I don't think we live that far apart
> 
> I suspect in Fair Oaks you had underground power service. From what I've seen in the Vienna area we have a lot of overhead power lines, and those are more vulnerable to things like branches and crows (no kidding, I lost power once because a crow perched on my transformer). I also have gotten countless surges on my cable and telephone lines that zapped a bunch of equipment. My advice? Invest in a whole-house surge protector and cable/telephone surge protectors as well. You could always try calling people up and complaining ... but when I did that, I got the classic runaround.


this is why i looooooooooooooooooooove living in Tysons. Underground powergrid. Never. lose. power. ever.

been here for 6+ years, not once. I recall hurricanes where you'd go just down 123, or 7 or spring hill and as soon as the overhead power lines showed up, darkness. But there was one glimmer of light in Fairfax county, and that was Tysons.


----------



## Miller

milo99 said:


> this is why i looooooooooooooooooooove living in Tysons. Underground powergrid. Never. lose. power. ever.
> 
> been here for 6+ years, not once. I recall hurricanes where you'd go just down 123, or 7 or spring hill and as soon as the overhead power lines showed up, darkness. But there was one glimmer of light in Fairfax county, and that was Tysons.


Everyone go to Milo's house the next time we lose power. I have been here 3.5 years and while it hasn't happened often, we do lose power here more than anywhere else I have ever lived in the country.


----------



## Dark Helmet

milo99 said:


> this is why i looooooooooooooooooooove living in Tysons. Underground powergrid. Never. lose. power. ever.


But then you're stuck in ... Tyson's. Nice place to shop, wouldn't wanna live there 

Honestly, maybe it's where I'm at in Vienna (and "Vienna" covers a LOT of ground), but I don't get it as bad as Revolutionary. 4 times in the last month? No way. Those blinks over the weekend are the first ones I remember in a long time. But then again I actually WORK during the day, unlike most people on this forum , so it possible the power is going out a bunch of times throughout the day. (Actually, now that I think about it, that's unlikely as well ... certainly my TiVo isn't restarting all of the time, and it's not on a UPS).


----------



## mcdannej

Anybody else notice that Cox appeared to turn on copy protection over the weekend on some channels? PTI on Espn and the nightly MSNBC lineup is now unavailable for MRV. 

I hate Cox....again.


----------



## 242

Dark Helmet said:


> I saw those messages as well, but those channels didn't appear on my Cox cable box either. And on my Cox Cable Box had a channel with the call sign of "NEWCH" and that channel had a message saying that new channels would be available on the 16th of December (today). So I'm guessing that the new channels got added to the Tribune feed before they were actually available from Cox.
> 
> (My guess about the "You need a CableCard" message is that is displayed when the TiVo tries to tune a channel that does not appear in it's channel map; in this case it's a little odd because we DO have CableCards but don't yet have the channels in the CableCard/TA channel map).


I saw the new channels without issue for most of the day. Unfortunately around 8pm it told me that the channel was temporarily unavailable even though I could see and hear it behind the translucent message. The message said to hit select, but neither select nor any other button functioned. After about a minute the tivo unit rebooted. The cisco box started blinking during this process but synced just as the tivo came back up. Its working again now, but I hope they fix the bugs soon.

-jeff


----------



## warewolf

It was like the tuning adapter konked out, and just stopped working. So the first thing I did was follow the instructions that came with the tuning adapter.

Rebooting the TiVo did not fix it.
Disconnecting the tuning adapter from the TiVo, power cycling it, and reconnecting it back to the TiVo after it had synch'd up fixed it.

It did take the TiVo a minute or two to re-download the channel map, which prevented me from watching Live TV.

Next time when this happens (it only happened on one of two original series 3 TiVos with tuning adapters) I'll go into the tuning adapter troubleshooting screen and see what it says there.

This is probably the problem that TiVo is supposed to fix with a software update.


----------



## milo99

Dark Helmet said:


> But then you're stuck in ... Tyson's. Nice place to shop, wouldn't wanna live there
> 
> Honestly, maybe it's where I'm at in Vienna (and "Vienna" covers a LOT of ground), but I don't get it as bad as Revolutionary. 4 times in the last month? No way. Those blinks over the weekend are the first ones I remember in a long time. But then again I actually WORK during the day, unlike most people on this forum , so it possible the power is going out a bunch of times throughout the day. (Actually, now that I think about it, that's unlikely as well ... certainly my TiVo isn't restarting all of the time, and it's not on a UPS).


well, i can say that when 3/4 of fairfax county had their power out, people were out shopping and eating in... Tysons. 

I actually have liked living there much more than i thought i would. I used to live in Fairfax right by 236 and Picktet, and i kinda hated it. Right now, my commute is max 30 minutes no mater where i go, and being a consultant, where my job takes me all over the area, that's been a nice luxury.


----------



## milo99

and back to the topic at hand- anybody else experiencing pixelization here there on the SDV channels? it varies, and it's not that bad, but a touch annoying.

oh, and last night, i noticed that we had some new HD channels including FX, AMC, Foxnews, weather channel.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lovin it!!


----------



## EvilYankeeFan

milo99 said:


> and back to the topic at hand- anybody else experiencing pixelization here there on the SDV channels? it varies, and it's not that bad, but a touch annoying.
> 
> oh, and last night, i noticed that we had some new HD channels including FX, AMC, Foxnews, weather channel.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lovin it!!


Yep. I'm getting pixelization as well. It's bearable though.


----------



## Revolutionary

milo99 said:


> and back to the topic at hand- anybody else experiencing pixelization here there on the SDV channels? it varies, and it's not that bad, but a touch annoying.
> 
> oh, and last night, i noticed that we had some new HD channels including FX, AMC, Foxnews, weather channel.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lovin it!!


AMCHD is by far the worst "HD" I have ever seen. I do not say this lightly: it is so pixelated (complete with sprites) that it is unwatchable.

Aside: it is 9 am, I am at work, and I smell hotdogs. How is this possible?


----------



## thea

I have pixelation also on other channels like NBC4, sometimes there's also a problem with the sound skipping. Kinda annoying because I was trying to watch Leno and it kept skipping during the opening monologue. Weather Channel HD comes in beautifully though.

btw - we've only had 1 power outage in the 4 years I've lived here and that only because some idiot decided to "park" his SUV in the tranformer station up the street.


----------



## milo99

Revolutionary said:


> AMCHD is by far the worst "HD" I have ever seen. I do not say this lightly: it is so pixelated (complete with sprites) that it is unwatchable.
> 
> Aside: it is 9 am, I am at work, and I smell hotdogs. How is this possible?


really? i was watching reign of fire last night and it was fine. not nearly as bad as A&E which just stretches the freagin picture to fit the screen


----------



## Revolutionary

milo99 said:


> really? i was watching reign of fire last night and it was fine. not nearly as bad as A&E which just stretches the freagin picture to fit the screen


Probably depends on whether the original content is HD (maybe RoF was). I was watching something this morning in stretch-o-vision (the technical term) and it was TERRIBLE. A&E and TNT are known to do this, but they seem to upscale the content pretty well. It looked liked AMC was stretching a YouTube video. Basically like everything that is not natively HD on WETA (blek), only a little bit worse.


----------



## Dark Helmet

milo99 said:


> really? i was watching reign of fire last night and it was fine. not nearly as bad as A&E which just stretches the freagin picture to fit the screen


Same here; I watched some of Reign of Fire last night (man, there really was nothing else on, was there?) and I thought it looked great. I wish most people would follow the lead of ESPN and just pillarbox 4:3 content on HD channels; the stretching just looks weird in most cases.


----------



## milo99

Dark Helmet said:


> Same here; I watched some of Reign of Fire last night (man, there really was nothing else on, was there?) and I thought it looked great. I wish most people would follow the lead of ESPN and just pillarbox 4:3 content on HD channels; the stretching just looks weird in most cases.


Fox news does that... O'Reilly factor is 4:3 and on FNC HD it was pillarboxed... yes... there really was nothing else on last night...


----------



## Timber

EvilYankeeFan said:


> Yep. I'm getting pixelization as well. It's bearable though.


+1

-=Tim=-


----------



## jcaudle

I haven't used the HD channels and changed all my season passes yet. However there seems to be a lot of copy protection on shows that weren't copy protected on the analog versions of these channels. It sounds like the next fight with Cox. If it was a HD Channel we had before Sept 07 it probably isn't blocked from transferring. I again am not happy with these jerks. Unourtunately the upcoming showings don't show if they are copy protected or not. I WANT FIOS


----------



## Dark Helmet

jcaudle said:


> I haven't used the HD channels and changed all my season passes yet. However there seems to be a lot of copy protection on shows that weren't copy protected on the analog versions of these channels.


From what I can tell, there IS no technical way to mark shows on analog stations as copy-protected (unless perhaps shows in the guide data are marked that way, but I have never encountered that). This isn't a new issue; it's just that there was either a small or zero overlap between MRV working and us having digital extended cable channels (I know this was an issue with Mythbusters before, for example.



> Unfourtunately the upcoming showings don't show if they are copy protected or not.


I don't think the TiVo knows if it's copy-protected until it gets the digital stream and looks at the CCI bytes.


----------



## jfranklin

O'kay, the sup that I usually deal with in this issues is apperently on an extended vacation, so I'm going to have to work with another, and a manager. So I'm going to need as much information as I can get from you all.

I know a few of you have posted some of the channels that aren't allowing copying, but it would be helpful to get a full list of channels in which programs have their CCI bit set to 0x02. Confirm more than one program per channel, so we can be sure that it is a channel level setting and not a program level one.

I'm going to compose an email now to get this process going, but would like to be able to provide a complete list of affected channels. Bother SD and HD.


----------



## TheLongshot

jfranklin said:


> O'kay, the sup that I usually deal with in this issues is apperently on an extended vacation, so I'm going to have to work with another, and a manager. So I'm going to need as much information as I can get from you all.
> 
> I know a few of you have posted some of the channels that aren't allowing copying, but it would be helpful to get a full list of channels in which programs have their CCI bit set to 0x02. Confirm more than one program per channel, so we can be sure that it is a channel level setting and not a program level one.
> 
> I'm going to compose an email now to get this process going, but would like to be able to provide a complete list of affected channels. Bother SD and HD.


On a check the other night, the only program I'm getting the CC bit checked where I didn't before is Moral Orel on Cartoon Network. The other CN stuff I record isn't getting set, tho, so it might be normal, if annoying.


----------



## Revolutionary

I'm at work now, so this will take some time for me to look at. But off the top of my head, every show that I have tested on the following channels has been 0x02:

FOODHD
USAHD
SCIFIHD
TBSHD
DISCHD
SCIHD
ANPLTHD
TLCHD

I haven't tested any of the channels that got added earlier this week.

Thanks, Jody!


----------



## moyekj

An easy way to check CCI values on multiple channels is as follows:

* Navigate to the DVR Diagnostics screen
* Click on Live to return to live viewing
* Tune to a channel of interest
* Click on Live again to swap to other tuner and tune to another channel of interest
* Click on left arrow (once the program information overlay dissapears) and you will be returned immediately to the Diagnostics screen where you can read the CCI values.
* Click on Live to return to live viewing and you can repeat the process

This way you can check CCI on multiple channels without excessive remote clicks.


----------



## Miller

I know for a fact Turner Classic Movies is and it has been every movie that I have recorded.


----------



## mcdannej

I just spent the last 20 minutes or so flipping around trying to figure this out. In my unscientific survey, I found a ridiculous number of channels that are showing cci 0x02. I checked (thanks Moyekj for the how to) the following:

53 Spike SD
56 ESPN SD
58 Life SD
67 MSNBC SD
71 CNN SD
87 TNT SD
91 Nik SD
701 HBO HD
716 ESPN HD
719 NG HD
727 DISC HD
730 AnPlan HD
739 SCIFI HD
741 LIFE HD
752 TWC HD

The only channels I could find that reported CCI 0x00 were the broadcasts 4/704 and 5/705, 41 Cspan, 220 GSN and 229 Bio.

We've got to get this fixed. MRV is basically broken for everything except ota broadcast channels. Any help you can provide, Jody, is appreciated as always.

BTW, my favorite has to be the vociferous copy protection of The Weather Channel HD. Who know what I could do with Doppler 8000 if I was given the right to transfer it from Tivo to Tivo. A travesty averted.


----------



## JTalbert

I am having problems with MRV as well. When I go back into my bedroom and try to copy things from my TivoHD, I can see a list of programs by folder, but ALL The folders are empty, I cant copy ANYTHING, no matter how long ago that it has been saved. Even stuff prior to me getting the TA. Tonight I am going to try to pull things from the bedroom Tivo to the TivoHD and see what happens. I know Tivo has apparently acknowledged some problems with the Tivo using the TA, and a SW update will be avail in January, I hope this update will fix this.


----------



## mcdannej

Talbert, 

I'm guessing that is a different problem unrelated to the change in Cox's cci settings. With the change in cci, you see the recordings, they have the big "no copy" mark next to them. Anyway, check the forum for some guidance on fixing the MRV problem. It may be as simple as repowering one or both of your tivos


----------



## jfranklin

I was contacted by a 'higher up' today. Apparently while searching for information this thread was found, and I was tracked down.

I spent some time on the phone, and I told them what's been going on so far. Unfortunately with the holiday that is upon us I don't know that much will happen before January, but the situation has been explained to people that are in a far better position to do something than I, or anyone at my location.

For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on.

Also, has anyone lost the ability to transfer programs from any of the higher digital tiers? Like the Sports & Info tier, or the Variety tier, or has this just been limited to 'Standard Cable' and the HD channels?


----------



## Timber

jfranklin said:


> I was contacted by a 'higher up' today. Apparently while searching for information this thread was found, and I was tracked down.
> 
> I spent some time on the phone, and I told them what's been going on so far. Unfortunately with the holiday that is upon us I don't know that much will happen before January, but the situation has been explained to people that are in a far better position to do something than I, or anyone at my location.
> 
> For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on.
> 
> Also, has anyone lost the ability to transfer programs from any of the higher digital tiers? Like the Sports & Info tier, or the Variety tier, or has this just been limited to 'Standard Cable' and the HD channels?


I'm not sure if confirmation info is helpful but I'm having exactly the problem listed above. ONLY the new stations, in fact my looking at TiVo Transfer I can see the TA date by the sudden increase in "no record" icons. Before then on non-HD channels (and I have variety/discover/etc.) its just movies after TA its almost everything as the new HD stations are largely what I watch now, HGTVD, NGCHD. Tho' I do notice that MSNBC (67) is also carrying that tag on MSNBC Investigates. Also the "old" HD stations like 706 and 709 do NOT carry the tag. NO problems recording.

Hope this makes sense. I'd be happy to talk to someone on the phone and run through the list. I will be leaving Cox soon as FIOS has arrived and tho' the TA made the decision MUCH tougher I've made the decision to jump (before TA it was a slam dunk.) I'm going to miss having someone on this forum that can help at this kind of local level!!!

-=Tim=-


----------



## Revolutionary

jfranklin said:


> I was contacted by a 'higher up' today. Apparently while searching for information this thread was found, and I was tracked down.
> 
> I spent some time on the phone, and I told them what's been going on so far. Unfortunately with the holiday that is upon us I don't know that much will happen before January, but the situation has been explained to people that are in a far better position to do something than I, or anyone at my location.
> 
> For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on.
> 
> Also, has anyone lost the ability to transfer programs from any of the higher digital tiers? Like the Sports & Info tier, or the Variety tier, or has this just been limited to 'Standard Cable' and the HD channels?


My variety tier seems to be unaffected. It is just random standard cable channels plus every SDV HD channel (for instance, I've confirmed that Universal HD and Stars HD--which are still not SDV--still have intermittent copy protection only, meaning that the byte is accurately being set case-by-case by the content owner).


----------



## Revolutionary

bump


----------



## deaddeeds

My TA rebooted on me three times on Saturday over a five hour period. Each time it takes about 5-10 min for the TA to do its flashing light thing and then for TiVo to ask for confirmation that it is connected to a TA. During this time the SDV channels are unavailable and TiVo dumps the 30 minute buffer. Anybody else having this problem???


----------



## margbooks

Because I knew from reading here that Cox finally has TAs, hubby got me an HD XL Tivo for Christmas to replace our Cox HD DVR. (When we got the HD TV this summer, we decided to try the Cox DVR to save money. I've missed Tivo dreadfully). 

I called Cox today, and the rep knew what a tuning adapter was! She checked to see if one was available, and if I would have to pick it up at Kingstowne, or she could send it with the technician on the truck with my cablecard. It's coming with the technician, and they're scheduled to be here tomorrow afternoon!

I will be so glad to be back to Tivo! Thank you all for sharing your info! 

Margaret


----------



## warewolf

jfranklin said:


> For now, though, I was asked to make sure that the only problem that has come up because of the copy once setting is that recordings can't be transferred off the TiVo. *(TiVo Multi Room Viewing)*
> 
> If anyone is having trouble recording programs at all, or being able to play programs on the TiVo it was recorded on, please let me know ASAP so I can pass that on. *(Standard DVR capabilities)*


Trying not to shoot the messenger here, but reading between the lines here it looks like Cox is not interested in permitting a TiVo do things with recorded programs a Cox DVR can't. Cox has the video progras in a CCI 0x02 death grip, which IMHO is a bit unreasonable. If Cox says "we don't set the CCI bit, the major networks do" I have to call BS, because back on Fios I could transfer program part of the base digital package (I didn't subscribe to premium channels such as HBO). And I could transfer PPV programs like UFC fights.

As I said before, a cox support rep in hampton roads said "the CCI settings are correct", which is 80% of why I don't think this is likely to change anytime soon, or if at all.

It's DRM, it's Defective By Design, and lowers the value of consumer cable card devices. Thankfully all of the TiVos in my family have lifetime service, I'd hate to pay part of a monthly service fee for a feature that my cable company denies me.


----------



## milo99

well, as PSA, i thought i'd report my first hiccup with the TA. My original installation was smooth and everything worked great. This morning, after i turned the TV on, i lost a block of channels, appeared to be everything over 700. The odd thing was that the tivo was tuned to 703 overnight, and when i turned on the TV, it was showing fine. But when i changed the channel, i got the "channel is not available" tivo message.

I checked a bunch of channels in different tiers, and everything was fine except the 700s. Luckily though, the first suggestion on the troubleshooting paper they gave us worked just fine. I unplugged the USB cable (while leaving everything on), waited for the green light to go back to solid, plugged it back in, and all my channels are back.

So just thought i'd pass it along... no need to panic (at least right away) if you lose a block of channels.


----------



## Timber

milo99 said:


> well, as PSA, i thought i'd report my first hiccup with the TA. My original installation was smooth and everything worked great. This morning, after i turned the TV on, i lost a block of channels, appeared to be everything over 700. The odd thing was that the tivo was tuned to 703 overnight, and when i turned on the TV, it was showing fine. But when i changed the channel, i got the "channel is not available" tivo message.
> 
> I checked a bunch of channels in different tiers, and everything was fine except the 700s. Luckily though, the first suggestion on the troubleshooting paper they gave us worked just fine. I unplugged the USB cable (while leaving everything on), waited for the green light to go back to solid, plugged it back in, and all my channels are back.
> 
> So just thought i'd pass it along... no need to panic (at least right away) if you lose a block of channels.


Interesting I had HGTVHD (724) not record last night on a season pass as TiVo reported that cable was not powered up.

-=Tim=-


----------



## djones18

milo99 said:


> well, as PSA, i thought i'd report my first hiccup with the TA. My original installation was smooth and everything worked great. This morning, after i turned the TV on, i lost a block of channels, appeared to be everything over 700. The odd thing was that the tivo was tuned to 703 overnight, and when i turned on the TV, it was showing fine. But when i changed the channel, i got the "channel is not available" tivo message.
> 
> I checked a bunch of channels in different tiers, and everything was fine except the 700s. Luckily though, the first suggestion on the troubleshooting paper they gave us worked just fine. I unplugged the USB cable (while leaving everything on), waited for the green light to go back to solid, plugged it back in, and all my channels are back.
> 
> So just thought i'd pass it along... no need to panic (at least right away) if you lose a block of channels.


I had a similar problem several days ago but it has not happened again, thankfully, since I've been gone for Christmas. Handshaking between the TiVo and the TA needs to be refined so that when one detects the other is not active, they automatically reestablish a connection. My continuing concern on this issue is the loss of recording capability while away from home.


----------



## Revolutionary

jfranklin: any updates on the CC byte?


----------



## Revolutionary

Cross referencing in case these issues are related: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=414223&page=2

Is anyone with a Tuning Adapter on their Series3/HD model unable to access that device's now playing list on a Series2 device via MRV? In my case (and another user), our HD Tivos can see and access the playlist of our Series2 Tivos, but our Series2 devices can only "see" our HD devices (ie, the HD Tivo appears at the bottom of the NPL on the Series 2) and cannot access the S3 NPL -- when you try to access the now playing list, the S2 reports that the S3 has no recordings. We aren't sure what might be going on, but we did figure out that we both have Cisco tuning adapters recently added to the mix...


----------



## Revolutionary

Does anybody have the troubleshooting guide that came with the TA in a digital format that you can upload? My TA was installed by a Cox tech on a truck-roll, and it appears he took the troubleshooting guide with him...


----------



## Miller

Revolutionary said:


> Does anybody have the troubleshooting guide that came with the TA in a digital format that you can upload? My TA was installed by a Cox tech on a truck-roll, and it appears he took the troubleshooting guide with him...


Send me a PM with your e-mail address and I have a PDF of one I can send you.


----------



## Miller

Ignore previous post. I was able to copy and paste it here. If you still want the PDF version, feel free to send me your e-mail address in a PM and I will send it to you.

Troubleshooting Guide 
Cox Communications is pleased to provide you a free Tuning Adapter -- which will enable TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL devices equipped with a CableCARD to tune to channels that are delivered via Switched Digital Video (SDV), a new interactive technology deployed by Cox allowing us to provide our customers with more, new and exciting channels. 
As a customer in the Cox Northern Virginia area, you are one of the first to receive a tuning adapter. During our testing and trials of the adapter, Cox and TiVo discovered a performance issue in the software that occasionally impacts communications between the tuning adapter and the TiVo device. Both TiVo and Cox are working on a solution that is anticipated to be ready in early January. Once available, the software will be downloaded to your devices automatically; much like the downloads you already receive from Cox and TiVo on an ongoing basis. 
Most customers will not experience an issue and we therefore wanted to make the Tuning Adapters available to you as quickly as possible. 
Customer impacts from the issue include: 
The loss of a block of channels to which you subscribe. 
Difficulty tuning to a single channel. 
If you experience the loss of a block of channels,please follow these easy trouble shooting tips prior to calling Cox. 
1) Disconnect the USB cable from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it. 
Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to 
step 2. . 
2) Unplug the electrical cord from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it. 
Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to step 3. 
3) Restart your TiVo DVR - From TiVo Central, select Messages & Settings> Restart or Reset System> Restart the DVR. Once the DVR finishes its restart, your channels should be available. 
If you are unable to tune to a single channel, please retune to the channel by using the channel up/down buttons on your remote, or by re-entering the channel number you are attempting to tune to. 
If these steps do not correct the issue, giving you access to all channels that you subscribe to, please call Cox at 703-378-8422 in Fairfax or 540-373-6343 in Fredericksburg. 
Again, we anticipate that only a small number of customers will be impacted by the performance issue, but please keep these tips on hand as the issue may appear at anytime over the next several weeks.


----------



## Revolutionary

Miller said:


> Ignore previous post. I was able to copy and paste it here. If you still want the PDF version, feel free to send me your e-mail address in a PM and I will send it to you.
> 
> Troubleshooting Guide
> Cox Communications is pleased to provide you a free Tuning Adapter -- which will enable TiVo Series 3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL devices equipped with a CableCARD to tune to channels that are delivered via Switched Digital Video (SDV), a new interactive technology deployed by Cox allowing us to provide our customers with more, new and exciting channels.
> As a customer in the Cox Northern Virginia area, you are one of the first to receive a tuning adapter. During our testing and trials of the adapter, Cox and TiVo discovered a performance issue in the software that occasionally impacts communications between the tuning adapter and the TiVo device. Both TiVo and Cox are working on a solution that is anticipated to be ready in early January. Once available, the software will be downloaded to your devices automatically; much like the downloads you already receive from Cox and TiVo on an ongoing basis.
> Most customers will not experience an issue and we therefore wanted to make the Tuning Adapters available to you as quickly as possible.
> Customer impacts from the issue include:
> The loss of a block of channels to which you subscribe.
> Difficulty tuning to a single channel.
> If you experience the loss of a block of channels,please follow these easy trouble shooting tips prior to calling Cox.
> 1) Disconnect the USB cable from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it.
> Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to
> step 2. .
> 2) Unplug the electrical cord from the tuning adapter, wait 1 minute and reconnect it.
> Once the green light on the tuning adapter is ON solid your channels should be available. If not, proceed to step 3.
> 3) Restart your TiVo DVR - From TiVo Central, select Messages & Settings> Restart or Reset System> Restart the DVR. Once the DVR finishes its restart, your channels should be available.
> If you are unable to tune to a single channel, please retune to the channel by using the channel up/down buttons on your remote, or by re-entering the channel number you are attempting to tune to.
> If these steps do not correct the issue, giving you access to all channels that you subscribe to, please call Cox at 703-378-8422 in Fairfax or 540-373-6343 in Fredericksburg.
> Again, we anticipate that only a small number of customers will be impacted by the performance issue, but please keep these tips on hand as the issue may appear at anytime over the next several weeks.


Thanks, Miller!


----------



## warewolf

warewolf said:


> As I said before, a cox support rep in hampton roads said "the CCI settings are correct", which is 80% of why I don't think this is likely to change anytime soon, or if at all.
> 
> It's DRM, it's Defective By Design, and lowers the value of consumer cable card devices. Thankfully all of the TiVos in my family have lifetime service, I'd hate to pay part of a monthly service fee for a feature that my cable company denies me.


I hate to quote my own post (it's totally bad form) but I just realized something.

How could I forget that the Series 3 TiVos initially entered the market with no MRV capabilities? That was all thanks to Cable Labs, the consortium of cable companies. After a while, Cable Labs gave TiVo the green-light go-ahead to provide MRV capabilities on the Series 3 TiVos, and TiVo pushed out a service update that permitted the Series 3 units to participate transfering analog _and digital_ content to and from each other.

While Cable Labs said it was OK, the cable companies themselves are restricting what we can do by the CCI bits.

This is backpedaling on a permitted feature by the cable companies. This has to be fixed.


----------



## Revolutionary

Agreed. Apparently jfranklin is getting stonewalled. Time to start calling Cox Customer service en masse. Can we arrange a "call in" (telephonic sit in) where we all call Cox on the same afternoon or evening?


----------



## Timber

Just switched today from Cox to Verizon FIOS (a pretty smooth transition with a tech who hadn't done a TiVo before.) Just checked my TiVo listings from my Mac. By looking at the recordings from the Mac you can tell the exact time that the switch took place as suddenly the programs are transferable to my Mac where they weren't before.

-=Tim=-


----------



## Revolutionary

Rub it in, why don't you... can't get FIOS in my condo...


----------



## warewolf

Hey, no update. Do we want to get TiVo involved or are we going to schedule a phone-in?

Oh, and did anybody notice the analog battlestar gallactica tonight on channel 83 had sound only in the left channel? I'm enjoying the quality service here.


----------



## Timber

Timber said:


> Just switched today from Cox to Verizon FIOS (a pretty smooth transition with a tech who hadn't done a TiVo before.) Just checked my TiVo listings from my Mac. By looking at the recordings from the Mac you can tell the exact time that the switch took place as suddenly the programs are transferable to my Mac where they weren't before.
> 
> -=Tim=-


In case anyone wanted to see what happened when I switched from Cox to FIOS around midday on Jan 5, instant transferability. This screen is from TiVo Transfer, Roxio's Toast piece.










-=Tim=-


----------



## warewolf

alright, trying to grab support from TiVo to try to put pressure on Cox.

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7006903

http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaythread?rootPostID=10417300


----------



## djones18

Cox Fairfax County now has Tuning Adapters available for general release at their Kingstowne branch for free. A friend picked hers up this past weekend for her TiVo HD. I was one of 50 or so folks who got them in December and have been through a steep learning curve to keep the TA synched to my TiVo. Haven't had any problems in the last couple weeks.

We followed the setup procedures in the release notes and had problems synching the Tuning Adapter to the M-card and TiVo. We could not get SDV channels and could not get the Tuning Adapter to be recognized. The process required rebooting the Tuning Adapter after it was activated through Cox's automated system, then a cold reboot of the TiVo via unplugging. It then took about an hour for the system to settle down and synch. The Tuning Adapter and Cablecard Diagnostic screens were helpful in determining the synch status of the adapter. 

The additional procedures needed to get the TA working were in the troubleshooting section of the release notes but normally shouldn't be required. Simply put, I wouldn't just give up and call for a truck roll without running through the troubleshooting procedures a couple times, then giving the sysem a chance to settle down and synch up.

My friend is an average user with little or no technical knowledge and this would have been a frustrating experience without help.


----------



## deaddeeds

warewolf said:


> alright, trying to grab support from TiVo to try to put pressure on Cox.
> 
> http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7006903
> 
> http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaythread?rootPostID=10417300


Should we all contact Fairfax County again to complain about this???


----------



## jcaudle

warewolf said:


> alright, trying to grab support from TiVo to try to put pressure on Cox.
> 
> http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7006903
> 
> http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaythread?rootPostID=10417300


Try this email. She is the VP for governmental relations for Cox in Fairfax. [email protected]. She was the one that was helpful on the tuning adapter issue here.


----------



## deaddeeds

I politely contacted Kathryn from Cox and she has already responded saying she would check out the issue. We will see what happens.


----------



## Revolutionary

deaddeeds said:


> Should we all contact Fairfax County again to complain about this???


I recently had my "closeout" interview with Mr. Hyde from the county. I mentioned that the County's action resolved the problem of access to SDV channels, but that we now faced a new frustration. He clarified, though, that Cox was not inhibiting my ability to record shows AT ALL on the Tivo, and I confirmed this.

He seemed interested in the new problem, but was principally interested in closing out the existing complaint.

I'm not sure what the County could do about this one, though (but what do I know...). I suggest we try the patient route for a little while longer. I think we should all send in a letter of the kind suggested on warewolf's tivo.com forum thread. If someone wants to take the lead on drafting it (I'm too busy this month), we could all send in a copy. With cc's to the FCC and the county?


----------



## jfranklin

just don't want you all thinking I had forgotten, just that I haven't heard anything back yet.


----------



## Donbadabon

Blink Blink Blink. Never stops blinking.

Followed the directions to the letter, called the 866 number and it said to wait 20 minutes for the blinking to stop. It never stops.

Of course I called tech support, and the woman had no idea what I was talking about. She kept asking about the 'cablecards in the adapter'. Ugh. I spent over 15 on the phone with her, and she had no clue what to do.

Are there any key phrases I can say to let them know how to check to make sure it is assigned to my account, or how they can ping it, or anything? It is very frustrating to talk to people that know less than me about this thing, and I don't know anything!


----------



## deaddeeds

Just keep calling Cox until you get a CSR that knows what they are doing. That is what I have done in past. You also may try sending a PM to JFranklin.


----------



## Donbadabon

Whew. 3 1/2 hours later, and I am up and running.
Finally got a CSR that not only knew something about the Tuning Adapter, he conferred with an in-house specialist when he didn't know the answer.
The problem turned out to be, like many others here, that the person who originally gave me the box didn't enter the information correctly in my account.
Once that was resolved, it works like a charm.

Since this seems to be a common problem, maybe Cox needs to take a moment and train the front desk folks on how to do this properly. Sure would save folks a lot of heartache.


----------



## milo99

anybody else having problems accessing TBSHD channel 722? It's been out for me for a few days. haven't bothered calling tech support since it's not exactly a very pressing channel for me, but i think there's a show on it coming up that i'd like to check out.... just don't feel like wasting a lot of time on the phone for just that one.

and yes, i've tried the 3 troubleshooting steps in the TA handout... no luck...


----------



## Miller

milo99 said:


> anybody else having problems accessing TBSHD channel 722? It's been out for me for a few days. haven't bothered calling tech support since it's not exactly a very pressing channel for me, but i think there's a show on it coming up that i'd like to check out.... just don't feel like wasting a lot of time on the phone for just that one.
> 
> and yes, i've tried the 3 troubleshooting steps in the TA handout... no luck...


No, I currently get all of the channels I am supposed to. To be honest, as flakey as the TA can be at times I am afraid to touch it. I am thinking about putting it behind a protective barrier of some sort.


----------



## qtip96

deaddeeds said:


> My TA rebooted on me three times on Saturday over a five hour period. Each time it takes about 5-10 min for the TA to do its flashing light thing and then for TiVo to ask for confirmation that it is connected to a TA. During this time the SDV channels are unavailable and TiVo dumps the 30 minute buffer. Anybody else having this problem???


I'm having the exact same problem. Got installed yesterday and the TA has rebooted at least 5 times -- one time I had to do a cold reboot. Any fixes for this?

update: Called Cox support and they got supervisor to work on the problem. They reset the tuner to make sure everything was configured correctly. I was told if it keeps happening to get the box swapped out. 2 hours after the call and the tuner has rebooted 3 times.

update2: swapped out the tuner and it is still happening regardless of what USB port is used. Called Tivo and the case is being escalated to engineers because this is the first time they have heard of this happening.


----------



## euckersw

Not sure if this has been covered anywhere, but has anyone noticed that when choosing to record a SDV channel Tivo asks you at what video quality you want to record the channel. I'm really confused - aren't these channels digital, and therefore there's only one quality? My Tivo doesn't ask me what video quality to record any of the non-SDV HD channels. Am I still getting full HD quality when recording the SDV HD channels?


----------



## amyflick

I'm still waiting for the patch that was supposed to be pushed on Jan 15th so I can get the center ice channels. I'd call Cox to inquire, but I'm pretty sure the tech support people won't know what I'm talking about.


----------



## Revolutionary

euckersw said:


> Not sure if this has been covered anywhere, but has anyone noticed that when choosing to record a SDV channel Tivo asks you at what video quality you want to record the channel. I'm really confused - aren't these channels digital, and therefore there's only one quality? My Tivo doesn't ask me what video quality to record any of the non-SDV HD channels. Am I still getting full HD quality when recording the SDV HD channels?


Yes. There is only one recording quality for digital. You are getting HD quality. That menu is just the default. Not sure why we see it (I see it on SDV channels, too), but that setting is irrelevant.

But even if you aren't reassured, set it to "Best" and be done with it.


----------



## deaddeeds

I picked up a TiVo HD last week to add a 2nd TiVo to my house. So I had a truck roll on Saturday for a CableCARD & TA installation. The install had some hiccups so I wanted to pass along some lessons learned and insights. 

The First thing was when I called Cox to schedule the install the CSR said that they do NOT have M cards. I told them that yes they do have M cards and asked her to talk to her supervisor. I then spoke to the supervisor and he said they did not have M cards. So I then told them put a note on the service call to bring an M card if it was available. 

Then on Saturday the installer showed up at 12:05 and guess what, he had an M CableCARD and a TA. (Note: Cox CSRs and Installers refer to the TA as a TiVo Tuner) Once again Cox has a training issue regarding CableCARDs and TiVos.

The installer started to hookup the TA and the CableCARD at the same time but realized he had to the CableCARD and TA installation in series not parallel. With out the TA hooked up the installer got the M Card installed and recognized within 15 minutes. 

Then he tried to get the TA to work but after 30 minutes of the TA blinking a series of eight and no luck he called back to Cox to ping the TA again. This time it was determined that the new TA was tied to the account but it was tied to the first TiVo and not the new HD TiVo. So after 10 minutes we tried again and still no luck so then we did a hard boot on the TiVo and the TA and finally after 1 hour the TA was up and running. Total install took a little under two hours.

So for those of you out there with two TiVos you want to make sure they Cox assigns one TA per TiVo and yes Cox does have M cards. Also if you do happen to get two S cards make sure you are only charged for one digital gateway by requesting a CableCARD Ao Fee Adjustment. 

In addition if the installer is having problems you can help them out by showing him the CableCARD & TA Diagnostics screens in TiVo. But you need to make sure that TiVo has the updated software because version 8 software does not support the TA. Lastly the installer said if the TA aka TiVo Tuner flakes out, just return it for another one.


----------



## djones18

Tuning Adapters (TA), aka Tivo Tuners to some CSRs, have been in use for about one month in Fairfax County. Here is a summary of tips/tricks for TiVo HD owners from this thread.

1. TA with new TiVo HD installation:

a. Ask CSR for M-Card cablecard and Tuning Adapter or Tivo Tuner for installation in your TiVo HD. Be persistent and precise; ask that installer bring more than one cablecard in case of failure. Installer may show up with wrong instructions you passed to CSR or different cablecards (two S-cards). Two S-cards will work but ensure you're not charged for two cards. Cox Fairfax County is only charging for one...confirmed from install last week.

b. Before installer arrives: connect TiVo HD via phone line or broadband, activate TiVo, allow time for software update. May take two days. Version 11.0 software needed for smooth install.

c. After installer arrives: install cablecard/s first, get TiVo working. Then install TA.

(1) Solutions for no-sync situation (blinking green light) assuming cablecard/s worked, TA activated at head-end, and troublshooting sheet fails to correct problem: TA serial number not correctly recorded at Cox, TA not listed at top of equipment account, TA not tied to correct TiVo/cablecard serial numbers on Cox account. Installer should confirm these before determining TA is defective.

2. TA Self-Installation. Assumes your cablecard/s are working fine.

a. Follow written instructions precisely. Don't forget to call Cox to activate the TA. May take up to an hour for system to settle and sync. If no-sync after that, follow troublshooting sheet and call tech support if necessary. See paragraph above before calling tech support so you can discuss potential account problems. Prepare to be switched between tech support, billing, and sales to confirm the TA is accurately listed on your account and tied to your TiVo and cablecard/s. At least one owner had defective unit after following these tips.

3. Issues after TA installed and working.

a. Problems:

(1) Power interruptions: Sometimes TA resyncs and often not.
(2) SDV channels (all or some) disappear while non-SDV channels appear fine. TA green light may remain on steady or blink.
(3) Recorded programs cannot be moved from TiVo to other media. Copy protection flags (record once) active. No solution at this time.
(4) Loss of one specific SDV/non-SDV channel, localized to one or a few members.

b. Solutions:

(1) From TiVo Central go to Messages & Settings/Settings/Remote, Cablecard & Devices/Tuning Adapter. This will tell you if your TA is connected. TA may indicate it is connected yet still not display SDV channels. In this case simply disconnect USB cable at TA socket for 30 seconds and reconnect.
(2) If that doesn't work or TA is failing to show up as connected, follow troublshooting sheet steps. Some have varied the order of these steps to get TA to resync. Unplugging/replugging TiVo power cord as a last resort often results in resync.
(3) Cox was made aware of loss of localized/specific individual channels. Solutions forthcoming according members who have this problem and contacted Cox.
(4) Call Cox with feedback.
(5) Regarding copy protection flag (record once), some advocate letters to local Cable Authority, FCC, and Congressmen in addition to cable company.

Undoubtably there other other problems and tips/solutions out there. The TA is clearly a work in progress and member feedback is essential.


----------



## qtip96

A Cox CSR notified me last night that a weak signal may cause the TA to resynch/reboot (mine does this every 15 minutes now). They are stopping by later today to check the signal strength. Anyone know what are good signal strength and SNR levels?

update: Cox tech showed up and told me they were sending out a software update tonight to all TA's (28 Jan) in NOVA. The update should correct the problem I've been experiencing permanently. Apparently, they started getting calls about this issue with the latest Tivo software update so I wasn't the only one. I'll setup recordings for all day tomorrow and see if I notice the problem again.


----------



## qtip96

qtip96 said:


> A Cox CSR notified me last night that a weak signal may cause the TA to resynch/reboot (mine does this every 15 minutes now). They are stopping by later today to check the signal strength. Anyone know what are good signal strength and SNR levels?
> 
> update: Cox tech showed up and told me they were sending out a software update tonight to all TA's (28 Jan) in NOVA. The update should correct the problem I've been experiencing permanently. Apparently, they started getting calls about this issue with the latest Tivo software update so I wasn't the only one. I'll setup recordings for all day tomorrow and see if I notice the problem again.


All,

This issue seems to be fixed. I've been recording for 3 hours this morning with no rebooting and I noticed the TA has the new firmware. I don't have the new version on me to post, but if you go to the Tuner Adapter Diagnostics page, you should now see a menu of the TA status information instead of pages of information.


----------



## Revolutionary

Please post the new version number if you can. Thanks!


----------



## Kwamster

Picked my TA up yesterday. Was experiencing the never-ending blinking, I tried all the troubleshooting, I called Cox (THANKS, TJ, you were very helpful!) and decided to risk plugging the USB in while it was still blinking...and it worked! So, it might be worth a try for anyone else waiting past the 20 min-1hr for the blinking to stop. I'm missing a random six channels (CWHD, TBSHD, WETAHD, NHLHD,FNCHD, SPEEDHD) but everything else has been working great just short of 24 hours!

As for the missing ones, I'll keep working on it.


----------



## deaddeeds

Pulled this off the revamped TA Diagnostics Navigation Map

Rebooted at 3:14:06 am on 29 Jan 09

PTV OS: Explorer1kg6 NGP OS
FLASH: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.0701
App(s): SARA v1.61.32.1

S/N: 34 dB
Freq: 795 Mhz
Tuning Mode: QAM-256


----------



## qtip96

deaddeeds said:


> Pulled this off the revamped TA Diagnostics Navigation Map
> 
> Rebooted at 3:14:06 am on 29 Jan 09
> 
> PTV OS: Explorer1kg6 NGP OS
> FLASH: STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.0701
> App(s): SARA v1.61.32.1
> 
> S/N: 34 dB
> Freq: 795 Mhz
> Tuning Mode: QAM-256


That's the same version I have now. Mine rebooted at 3:15am.


----------



## djones18

Kwamster said:


> Picked my TA up yesterday. Was experiencing the never-ending blinking, I tried all the troubleshooting, I called Cox (THANKS, TJ, you were very helpful!) and decided to risk plugging the USB in while it was still blinking...and it worked! So, it might be worth a try for anyone else waiting past the 20 min-1hr for the blinking to stop. I'm missing a random six channels (CWHD, TBSHD, WETAHD, NHLHD,FNCHD, SPEEDHD) but everything else has been working great just short of 24 hours!
> 
> As for the missing ones, I'll keep working on it.


Are your missing six channels working now?


----------



## Revolutionary

Anybody else think Cartoon Network in HD is the shiznit?


----------



## qtip96

qtip96 said:


> All,
> 
> This issue seems to be fixed. I've been recording for 3 hours this morning with no rebooting and I noticed the TA has the new firmware. I don't have the new version on me to post, but if you go to the Tuner Adapter Diagnostics page, you should now see a menu of the TA status information instead of pages of information.


Spoke too soon -- box is still rebooting but not as often. Called Cox and they are sending someone out yet again.


----------



## Kwamster

djones18 said:


> Are your missing six channels working now?


Nope. The only one I'm really hurting for is CWHD, purely for "Smallville." But the trade-off of having all the other HD channels is worth it... for now. I'll give it a week before I call Cox.


----------



## Kwamster

Revolutionary said:


> Anybody else think Cartoon Network in HD is the shiznit?


Thumbs up, here. My son and I LOVE "Batman: Brave and the Bold" and "Star Wars: Clone Wars." TOTALLY the shiznit!


----------



## djones18

Kwamster said:


> Nope. The only one I'm really hurting for is CWHD, purely for "Smallville." But the trade-off of having all the other HD channels is worth it... for now. I'll give it a week before I call Cox.


Possible solutions in order of difficulty, if you're up for a little troubleshooting, assuming you are receiving some non-SDV and some SDV channels (non-SDV: 08,71, SDV: 708, 739):

1. From TiVo Central menu select Messages and Settings/Settings/Channels and check the channels you receive includes the missing channels.

2. Restart your Tivo from the Messages and Settings menu.

3. Rerun Guided Setup again from the Messages and Settings Menu to ensure TiVo is mapping all received channels including those missing channels.

I've seen each of these solve the problem you describe. Assuming your cablecards worked prior to TA installation and your TA is receiving some SDV channels, one of these solutions may work. After trying step two or three, you may have to disconnect and reconnect the USB cable to resync the TA to the TiVo. After each step you should go to the Cablecard and TA diagnostic menus to test the channels received through each of these devices. Good luck.


----------



## boywaja

I lost all my channels today. I seem to have 711 (golfHD) and a handful of channels that I assume are analog only (21 and maybe 14). 

I rebooted a couple times and my channels came back, but then they went away again a few hours later.

The cable is on, and if I plug the coax into a tv, I can see the analog channels. 

Looks like tomorrow, I'm going to have to get cox to hit my cable cards. 

The lockups and reboots were preferable to this.


----------



## Kwamster

djones18 said:


> Possible solutions in order of difficulty, if you're up for a little troubleshooting, assuming you are receiving some non-SDV and some SDV channels (non-SDV: 08,71, SDV: 708, 739):
> 
> 1. From TiVo Central menu select Messages and Settings/Settings/Channels and check the channels you receive includes the missing channels.
> 
> 2. Restart your Tivo from the Messages and Settings menu.
> 
> 3. Rerun Guided Setup again from the Messages and Settings Menu to ensure TiVo is mapping all received channels including those missing channels.
> 
> I've seen each of these solve the problem you describe. Assuming your cablecards worked prior to TA installation and your TA is receiving some SDV channels, one of these solutions may work. After trying step two or three, you may have to disconnect and reconnect the USB cable to resync the TA to the TiVo. After each step you should go to the Cablecard and TA diagnostic menus to test the channels received through each of these devices. Good luck.


Everything is back. A little pixellated, but back!! Thanks!


----------



## lrhorer

euckersw said:


> Not sure if this has been covered anywhere, but has anyone noticed that when choosing to record a SDV channel Tivo asks you at what video quality you want to record the channel. I'm really confused - aren't these channels digital, and therefore there's only one quality? My Tivo doesn't ask me what video quality to record any of the non-SDV HD channels. Am I still getting full HD quality when recording the SDV HD channels?


The mechanism for letting the TiVo know the recording is going to be digital doesn't always work properly, and may not work at all with SDV. It really doesn't matter. When the time comes to actually record the channel, he fact it is digital will mean the TiVo has no choice but to pass the stream directly to disk. The quality conversion is only available when passing through the TiVo's A/D converter.


----------



## qtip96

qtip96 said:


> Spoke too soon -- box is still rebooting but not as often. Called Cox and they are sending someone out yet again.


The tech that showed up checked a few things including the signal level -- everything was ok. He said they were going to send another tech the next day with a new tuning adapter to try again. The 5th tech shows up the next day and swaps out my single stream CableCards with a single multistream. He also swaps out the tuning adapter with a new one (this is now the 3rd one). Re-ran guided setup and everything looked good. 4 hours later I noticed a reboot and now they are happening all the time as before. Tivo has the case escalated to engineers but now I find out that newegg's return policy on the Tivo in NON-REFUNDABLE. I haven't spoken to newegg yet but I could be SOL in a major way. How disappointing.

update: newegg will take it back with a 15% restocking fee


----------



## SteveMB

Monday: Cox cable tech came out, installed cable cards.

Result: Partially worked, but a swath of digital channels didn't come in.

Tuesday: Another Cox cable tech came out, installed tuning adapter.

Result: Missing channels showed up... except when an occasional "Tuning adapter not found" error message came up.

Wednesday: Another Cox cable tech came out, installed Cox DVR with DVR functions disabled into the line and claimed that this would enable TiVO to work with the DVR set on Channel 3.

Result: TiVO channel can only be set from DVR channel selector, and there is clearly no way for the TiVO to select the channel for a programmed recording.


----------



## djones18

SteveMB said:


> Monday: Cox cable tech came out, installed cable cards.
> 
> Result: Partially worked, but a swath of digital channels didn't come in.
> 
> Tuesday: Another Cox cable tech came out, installed tuning adapter.
> 
> Result: Missing channels showed up... except when an occasional "Tuning adapter not found" error message came up.
> 
> Wednesday: Another Cox cable tech came out, installed Cox DVR with DVR functions disabled into the line and claimed that this would enable TiVO to work with the DVR set on Channel 3.
> 
> Result: TiVO channel can only be set from DVR channel selector, and there is clearly no way for the TiVO to select the channel for a programmed recording.


You will likely get many comments on this setup! The tech who visited you Wednesday botched the installation and misinformed you. Your Cox DVR, though fully functional, is not needed. Configured as you describe, most likely with coax cable from the Cox DVR to the TiVo, TiVo functions are negated. Most Cox installers should know better and the tech who visited Wednesday should be reported for incorrectly installing a Cox DVR then telling you it was needed to make your TiVo work. You are also being charged for a Cox DVR which you don't need.

The Cox DVR is not needed to make the TiVo work. It should be removed and returned to Cox. Your system was likely set up correctly on Tuesday and the glitches (TA receiver going in and out of sync) you experienced are not uncommon as Cox gets your TiVo, Cablecard, TA serial numbers and account information into their system correctly through their accounts, billing, and technical sections. This can take a couple of days. Your TA came with a fairly straight forward sheet of troubleshooting steps which help you to get your Tuning Adapter and TiVo synced up. This thread also provides many tips should you have a problem. Many of us have gone through this process and help is readily available if you have questions.

If you are uncomfortable doing this yourself, you should get Cox out immediately to remove the Cox DVR and attach the cable coming into your house directly into the TiVo Cable input. If you or the Cox tech follow the directions provided by TiVo and follow the directions provided with the Tuning Adapter you should get your TiVo working.


----------



## Revolutionary

I'm afraid I'm starting to have the reboot problem. Every time I leave the Tivo unattended for a time, when I come back, I get the "Tuning Adapter is attached" blue screen. I can't confirm that the adapter is rebooting, causing this, but it stands to reason...

Why oh why can the consumer electronics industry not release products that work right off the bat?


----------



## qtip96

Revolutionary said:


> I'm afraid I'm starting to have the reboot problem. Every time I leave the Tivo unattended for a time, when I come back, I get the "Tuning Adapter is attached" blue screen. I can't confirm that the adapter is rebooting, causing this, but it stands to reason...
> 
> Why oh why can the consumer electronics industry not release products that work right off the bat?


If you go to the Tuner adapter diagnostics, check the first menu option and I think it's the 2nd screen it will show you the last bootup time which coincides with every blue screen event I get. Unfortunately my 30 day money back guarantee is almost up so I won't be able to help the Tivo and Cox engineers with troubleshooting much longer.


----------



## Revolutionary

Disconnected my TA for all of last night -- no SDV recordings scheduled, so it was "safe." I'm concerned that the TA might be overheating, so I wanted it to cool well down.

Plugged it back in this morning and it promptly rebooted 3 times in the space of an hour.

Piece of Cisco horsecrap. Off to call Cox... yea...


----------



## mriechers

Hello,

Checking in with my TA story so far. Keep in mind with my timeline I'm not totally up-to-date on the status of the TAs, as you guys seem to be.

2/4 - Late night: googled tuning adapters as I have been doing about once a month for the last year. Finally I hear some stories of availability of the adapter and success. I'm elated, and set about to calling Cox to get mine. I get disconnected several times from the automated menu, and finally get a recording saying to call back during business hours.

2/5 - Called Cox, they said TAs are now available, and are ready for "pickup only" at my local office, but are strictly 1 per customer, regardless of how many Tivos we have. I went to the Herndon location and asked for 2 TAs (I have 2 Tivo HDs, upgraded), and after the counter rep consulted with her supervisor, agreed to give me 2 TAs instead of just 1. (Hint: be very nice!)

2/6 - Get around to setting up my TAs. 1 at a time though. I first had to deal with a cablecard sync issue, as I moved my Tivos to new TVs (unrelated issue to TA availability, just something I've been meaning to do. re-arranging furniture and what not). Couldn't get the first cablecard to sync, and that was causing issues with the TA working at all. In fact, without the sync, I could get standard channels and basic HD channels, but not my SDV and premium content channels. After plugging in the TA in this situation (as the CSR asked me to do, even though I basically insisted we had to solve the CC sync issue first) I lost *all* channels. I spent 2 hours on the phone with a very helpful and friendly person who seemed like he really wanted to help me, but honestly didn't know what he was talking about.

After all this, and still no working channels, he said he would have a "cable card and tuning adapter expert" call me back personally. I gave him my cell number, really not expecting much. Sure enough, 30 minutes later, I get a call from a guy who knew all of this inside and out. He instructed me to unplug the USB cable from the TA as well as its power cord, then solved the CC sync issue, which was due to incorrect information entered on their end. Once the card was sync'd, he asked me to plug in the TA, wait until it stopped blinking and then plug in the USB cable, and then it "should work". He told me this and asked me to hang up and just wait it out. I was dubious about it but sure enough it worked. *I now have all of my SDV, HD SDV, and premium channels working on my upgraded Tivo HD*. I am extremely happy to finally be receiving all the channels I've been paying for all this time!

--

On another note: the other Tivo is having a cable card issue also, but it needs to be replaced, so they are having a truck roll to get me a new m-card. I'm sure I'll have to repeat all of the above to get the other one working, but I'm happy with progress here. I'll update when / if I get the other Tivo working!


----------



## deaddeeds

mriechers said:


> Hello,
> 
> Checking in with my TA story so far. Keep in mind with my timeline I'm not totally up-to-date on the status of the TAs, as you guys seem to be.
> 
> 2/4 - Late night: googled tuning adapters as I have been doing about once a month for the last year. Finally I hear some stories of availability of the adapter and success. I'm elated, and set about to calling Cox to get mine. I get disconnected several times from the automated menu, and finally get a recording saying to call back during business hours.
> 
> 2/5 - Called Cox, they said TAs are now available, and are ready for "pickup only" at my local office, but are strictly 1 per customer, regardless of how many Tivos we have. I went to the Herndon location and asked for 2 TAs (I have 2 Tivo HDs, upgraded), and after the counter rep consulted with her supervisor, agreed to give me 2 TAs instead of just 1. (Hint: be very nice!)
> 
> 2/6 - Get around to setting up my TAs. 1 at a time though. I first had to deal with a cablecard sync issue, as I moved my Tivos to new TVs (unrelated issue to TA availability, just something I've been meaning to do. re-arranging furniture and what not). Couldn't get the first cablecard to sync, and that was causing issues with the TA working at all. In fact, without the sync, I could get standard channels and basic HD channels, but not my SDV and premium content channels. After plugging in the TA in this situation (as the CSR asked me to do, even though I basically insisted we had to solve the CC sync issue first) I lost *all* channels. I spent 2 hours on the phone with a very helpful and friendly person who seemed like he really wanted to help me, but honestly didn't know what he was talking about.
> 
> After all this, and still no working channels, he said he would have a "cable card and tuning adapter expert" call me back personally. I gave him my cell number, really not expecting much. Sure enough, 30 minutes later, I get a call from a guy who knew all of this inside and out. He instructed me to unplug the USB cable from the TA as well as its power cord, then solved the CC sync issue, which was due to incorrect information entered on their end. Once the card was sync'd, he asked me to plug in the TA, wait until it stopped blinking and then plug in the USB cable, and then it "should work". He told me this and asked me to hang up and just wait it out. I was dubious about it but sure enough it worked. *I now have all of my SDV, HD SDV, and premium channels working on my upgraded Tivo HD*. I am extremely happy to finally be receiving all the channels I've been paying for all this time!
> 
> --
> 
> On another note: the other Tivo is having a cable card issue also, but it needs to be replaced, so they are having a truck roll to get me a new m-card. I'm sure I'll have to repeat all of the above to get the other one working, but I'm happy with progress here. I'll update when / if I get the other Tivo working!


Word of caution, make sure that each TA is assigned to one TiVo and not just the account or else the 2nd TA will never work. Also don't be shy in asking the installer what his experience is with TAs and CableCARDS because there are some installers that have no clue and will leave you worse off than you started. Just read the info in this thread and it should arm you with the proper knowledge for a successful set up.


----------



## SteveMB

Well, they finally sent somebody with a clue and it seems to be working. Part of the problem may have been low signal strength (the picture and recordings with my previous DVD recorder always came out OK, but maybe the TiVO is more sensitive); he replaced three old two-way splitters in the attic with one new four-way and took out the direct splitoff to the TV (which shouldn't really be needed it the TiVO continues to work as advertised).


----------



## milo99

well, this is interesting reading through all these posts from the past week and a half. My issue w/ TBS going out was the first sign of trouble i had. Then the last week in Jan, every day when i turned on my TV, it had that message that Tuning Adapter is now connected, as if I'd just connected (so it probably had rebooted). This happened 4 days in a row.

Then on the 31st, it just went haywire, the TA was blinking and i wasn't getting any channels. I called Tech Support, the first lady resent the signal (just what they normally do w/ cablecards, didn't do anything to the TA), and it seemed to work. Until i hung up, when 5 minutes later, half the SDV channels were gone. The light wasn't blinking though. So i tried the 3 troubleshooting steps, and i was back to the TA blinking non-stop.

So called back. This time, got a guy who said he reconfigured/reset the TA's configuration. He said it'd take up to 30min for it to work, and meantime had me schedule a truck roll in case it doesn't.

Now here's where it was interesting. after a couple of minutes, the blinking changed. It was still blinking, but this time, every few blinks, it would stick for a couple seconds, then continue blinking again. But i still wasn't getting my channels. 

After an hour of this, i tried to get it to work. Somehow, after doing variations of unplugging the USB and the TA, it somehow started to work! Had no idea what the deal was.

I didn't realize they were pushing through a software update, so i guess maybe that's what caused me problems. Since then, i don't have any reboots and everything's been fine.


----------



## Revolutionary

Yeah, there is some kind of frigging ghost in these machines. Mine apparently only reboots in the morning. My wife said it didn't reboot all day long on Friday after the morning. And then it didn't reboot all weekend. But this morning when I turned it on? "A Tuning Adapter is Connected..."

What is most obnoxious is that a reboot in the middle of a recording, no matter what channel is recording (ie, non-SDV) causes the recording to stop, and it doesn't auto-resume after the TA comes back online. 

If the reboots continue to be in the morning, though, I will probably just let well enough alone. We record in the morning only once in a blue moon.


----------



## SteveMB

I've been getting occasional "Tuning Adapter Not Found" immediately followed by "Tuning Adapter Connected" messages.

I suspect that the tuning adapter is not properly recovering from momentary dropouts in the cable signal.


----------



## qtip96

SteveMB said:


> I've been getting occasional "Tuning Adapter Not Found" immediately followed by "Tuning Adapter Connected" messages.
> 
> I suspect that the tuning adapter is not properly recovering from momentary dropouts in the cable signal.


Steve,

Can you provide a description of your setup? I've been troubleshooting with Cox and Tivo for almost a month since I've been getting these messages from day 1.


----------



## SteveMB

qtip96 said:


> Steve,
> 
> Can you provide a description of your setup? I've been troubleshooting with Cox and Tivo for almost a month since I've been getting these messages from day 1.


It's a standard setup -- cable into tuning adapter, tuning adapter into TiVO, USB cable between TiVO and tuning adapter, TiVO video to to DVD recorder, DVD recorder to TV.


----------



## mriechers

Had a tech out to my house today. Swapped my old s-card for an m-card, and now I have both setups working. 3 days of no problems on the first Tivo HD + TA setup, now going on 1 day and no reboots or issues with the second.

I sure hope it stays this successful! Tip: be very communicative and patient with Cox, and they will be willing to work with you. Kinda a PITA, but that's the price we pay to be early adopters. All I know is, all of my season passes across 2 Tivos now record exclusively in HD.


----------



## elquato

Sorry for the long post, but here is my experience with a TiVo Series3 and a Cox Cisco TA so far:

I picked up the TA in mid-December, installed it, and called the activation line. After watching the green light blink for an hour, I called tech support and got the TA activated for me. I ran some tests, and I did indeed receive some of the SDV channels that I could not before installing the TA. However, the following (long) list contains the channels I cannot receive:

12, 15-16, 18-26, 29, 31-32, 34, 38, 41, 43, 54, 57, 60, 63, 65, 66, 68, 74-75, 78-79, 86, 99-102, 150, 157-159, 163-164, 166-167, 247-248, 252, 256, 259-261, 310-311, 711, 723, 728-729, 737, 740, 743-748, 752, 755, 758-762, 765-766, and 901-948

When I tune to any of these channels, I immediately get the notice "This channel is temporarily unavailable. Press SELECT to try tuning to this channel again. Contact your cable provider for more information.". I've tried all the troubleshooting steps on numerous occasions, and I've called Cox who says that my account is set up properly. By the way, I do receive all of the listed channels on the Cox SA HD receiver.

Last night I called Cox again, went through the same troubleshooting steps with the tech, and now I can't receive any channels at all with the TA powered on. It's acting as if the cable is disconnected. When I power off the TA I go back to receiving all the channels I used to get before I installed the adapter.

Does this sound like a bad tuning adapter, or just something that is not configured properly?

Cox is sending someone out. Hopefully someone with TiVo experience.


----------



## boywaja

elquato said:


> Does this sound like a bad tuning adapter, or just something that is not configured properly?


I would bet misconfiguration on their end.

I recently losts all my channels. They sent someone out, and what I was told is my tuning adaptor was assigned to the second cable card instead of the first. Doesn't necessarily make sense but it did fix the problem.

Hopefully they are giving the tech a tuning adaptor just in case. What I found is they dont supply the techs with a TA, and a second trip might need to occur if it is the TA.


----------



## SteveMB

We tried one of the troubleshooting steps for the wireless network adapter (move it away from the main TiVO/tuning adapter unit), and it's gone longer than usual without any of the "Tuning Adapter Missing"/"Tuning Adapter Found" glitches. We'll be out of town for the weekend and see if the recordings go off (the glitch aborts anything in progress).


----------



## tim5055

Well, my first post in a while. Moved into Fairfax Monday, with the movers at the house Monday/Tuesday. I figured give it a while to find all my stuff, so I scheduled a 1 - 4 appointment window Wednesday.

Installer showed up at about 2 (got a call 30 minutes prior).

Said he was there to install internet, phone & cable including an "M" card and tuning adapter for a Tivo. I was impressed he knew what a Tivo was!

I've got to say, the guy knew his stuff and worked his butt off.

He knew how the Tivo worked and moved around the menus with ease. A couple of hours later everything worked fine, including the TA a and all digital channels. The M card and TA only took about 30 minutes to get working, the rest of the time he was fixing wiring the previous owner of the house messed up.

I was extremely impressed at how easy my install went.

Now, later that night I lost the digital channels. I tried removing the TA USB cable once, but it was too late to play with it. I went to work Thursday and when I came home figuring i would have to fight with it - All channels were working..... Figure that.

Well right now everything is working fine. At this point i say kudos to Cox. Much better service then I ever got from Comcast


----------



## RumDrinker

Got the TA about 3 weeks ago now. Initially it couldn't stay connected for more than a few minutes. I disconnected the usb connection but let everything else stay as is (TA inline on cable, and with power) - taking a break from futzing.. especially since getting the cable cards going was such a hassle in and of itself. I tried the TA again yesterday, and it is better. I notice that there is a new set of screens under the TA menu (better organized). So what remains?:

1) Will still get the blue screens that others report. The TA can go for hours and then hit the disconnected / connected screens that others have indicated is associated with some sort of a boot. Seems like know one really knows why this happens - weak signal, over heating. All I know is the updated SW helped - making me think it is not HW, heating, or weak signal.

2) Instead of recovering well, Tivo's screens about TA status appear to interrupt operation / recordings. This should be relatively easy to fix. Folks need to be able to trust their Tivo to grab stuff while they are out.. even if this random and quick reboot issue continues for a while longer (as Cox / Tivo figure out the root cause).

Seems like there is work to be done on both Cox's and Tivo's sides.


----------



## qtip96

Tivo called me today regarding my case and it turns out they have verified its an issue but don't know the root cause yet. They have sent information over to Cisco for them to do some internal testing. If you are having this issue, *please* open a case with tivo support so they can get more information from the field. Thanks!


----------



## deaddeeds

Is the USA Network in HD pixelating for anybody else?


----------



## SteveMB

Everything we set up to record over the weekend seems to have come off OK -- according to my wife (I don't watch that much TV, actually), this is much longer than usual without the dreaded "Tuning Adapter Missing"/"Tuning Adapter Found" interruption. If anybody having this problem has a wireless unit sitting on top of the tuning adapter, try moving it away and see if that helps; that's the only change I know of that can account for our improvement (OTOH, it's possible that Cox sent a reprogramming signal).


----------



## shabby46

Its been a while since I posted here, so I will put in some of my issues/concerns for all to hear...

Upon installation, everything was just fine. All channels came in clear, no pixelation. First problem was with TBSHD, it started skipping and getting very pixelatated. It is now unwatchable but still comes through. A&EHD is now beginning to get almost unwatchable, but it is working for the most part. I have had to switch to the non-HD version to watch a few shows, but I would rather not do that. CWHD just recently went out on me and gives a searching for signal message when I tune it there. All of the PBS channels now do that as well. I am sure there are others which I dont watch that do this, but I have not found them yet. I am going to run guided setup here in a moment and see if that brings anything back. Wish me luck...


----------



## milo99

deaddeeds said:


> Is the USA Network in HD pixelating for anybody else?


yup.. and CCHD (762) is really bad. I was trying to watch the Titus special on Saturday night, kept missing punchlines.


----------



## Miller

I get home from work, want to watch TV, and no luck. I look at the Tuning Adapter and it is mocking me with Blink - Blink - Blink. I am not going to mess with it tonight I will see if I can fix it tomorrow. Perhaps it will mysteriously fix itself over night as it has done in the past. I swear I can hear it laughing at me even as I type.


----------



## smr

Revolutionary said:


> Cross referencing in case these issues are related: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=414223&page=2
> 
> Is anyone with a Tuning Adapter on their Series3/HD model unable to access that device's now playing list on a Series2 device via MRV? In my case (and another user), our HD Tivos can see and access the playlist of our Series2 Tivos, but our Series2 devices can only "see" our HD devices (ie, the HD Tivo appears at the bottom of the NPL on the Series 2) and cannot access the S3 NPL -- when you try to access the now playing list, the S2 reports that the S3 has no recordings. We aren't sure what might be going on, but we did figure out that we both have Cisco tuning adapters recently added to the mix...


I am having this issue too. My S3 (Living room) can see the S2 (Bedroom) but the S2 cannot see the S3. Sometines it flashes (for a second) that something is there, then it says there are no programs recorded. I switched from sorting by date to alphabetically and was able to see them, but could not xfr them. Once I went back to by date, they were gone again.

I rebooted both TiVos but that made no difference. I turned the TA off which also made no difference. Maybe tonight I will turn off the TA and reboot the two TiVos. Who knows.

What I DO know is that everything worked perfectly the night before the TA was installed because I xfrd some shows for the Girlfriend just in case something went wrong. Glad I did.

Please, if you have had this issue, post what you tried (successful or not) so that it may save me (and others) time and frustration.


----------



## Revolutionary

smr said:


> I am having this issue too. My S3 (Living room) can see the S2 (Bedroom) but the S2 cannot see the S3. Sometines it flashes (for a second) that something is there, then it says there are no programs recorded. I switched from sorting by date to alphabetically and was able to see them, but could not xfr them. Once I went back to by date, they were gone again.
> 
> I rebooted both TiVos but that made no difference. I turned the TA off which also made no difference. Maybe tonight I will turn off the TA and reboot the two TiVos. Who knows.
> 
> What I DO know is that everything worked perfectly the night before the TA was installed because I xfrd some shows for the Girlfriend just in case something went wrong. Glad I did.
> 
> Please, if you have had this issue, post what you tried (successful or not) so that it may save me (and others) time and frustration.


We've tried everything. There is no fix, short of disconnecting the tuning adapter and deleting the shows that were recorded while it was installed. (It seems that any show recorded while the TA is connected is toxic to MRV, according to the last post by kcantrell, and not just shows recorded from SDV channels that require the TA).

Tivo is aware of the problem and hopefully will be able to recreate it and fix it soon.


----------



## smr

Revolutionary said:


> We've tried everything. There is no fix, short of disconnecting the tuning adapter and deleting the shows that were recorded while it was installed. (It seems that any show recorded while the TA is connected is toxic to MRV, according to the last post by kcantrell, and not just shows recorded from SDV channels that require the TA).
> 
> Tivo is aware of the problem and hopefully will be able to recreate it and fix it soon.


Thanks, Good to know that I am not alone in this boat.


----------



## Qwijib0

Just picked up my TA yesterday, and followed the sheet to get it hooked up to the cable line, then called to activate. Came home after 8 hours and still a blinking light. I called support, and went over djones18's checklist from page 9 with the tech on the phone (top of list, added to tivo s/n specifically...). The tech I spoke with didn't have any instructions more than the self-install sheet in the box, but was extremely nice and seemed to understand what I was asking him to do. End result though, still a blinking light. He set up a truck roll, but I've had very poor luck in the past year getting a tech who knows what even a cablecard is-- is there anything more specific I can ask the phone guys to do, or is there a known cox employee in the tucson/phoenix region I can email/call before my appointment tomorrow? I have little faith that the man coming to my house will be able to do anything.


----------



## deaddeeds

If your tech does not know what he is doing. Ask him to call another tech for advice. They all have phones and seem to be willing to help each other out. The main problem is just ensuring they properly tie the TA to your account but there are some bad boxes out there. You can ask them to bring another box out as a back up.


----------



## luapgibva

Does anyone know how to get back channels that I have lost now that I have plugged in the adapter? I have lost 92 and 17.


----------



## smr

luapgibva said:


> Does anyone know how to get back channels that I have lost now that I have plugged in the adapter? I have lost 92 and 17.


I was told by the Brighthouse installer here in Orlando was that would have to re-run my guided setup. I did so and have (yet) to have any issues. The channels that I "lost" seemed to be "found".

Hope this is also the case for you.


----------



## jwood62031

I get the message "This channel is temporarily unavailable. Press Select to try tuning this channel again...." quite often. The Cox people on the phone didn't seem to have any idea why I was getting this message but from the Tivo web site I see it has to do with limited bandwidth for the SDV programs. Are you guys getting this message a lot? Excuse my SDV ignorance but do I get this message because no one is watching that channel or too many people are watching any channels or something else? Does Cox keep a list of SDV channels on their web site? Thanks


----------



## Miller

Anyone else here unable to tune 769 with their Tuning Adapter. When I try I get the message, This channel is not provided by your Tuning Adapter. For more information, please call Cox. Before I call Cox I would like to know if anyone else gets the same thing. Cant believe Cox would block Quantum Leap and M*A*S*H. Thanks.


----------



## boywaja

Miller said:


> Anyone else here unable to tune 769 with their Tuning Adapter. When I try I get the message, This channel is not provided by your Tuning Adapter. For more information, please call Cox. Before I call Cox I would like to know if anyone else gets the same thing. Cant believe Cox would block Quantum Leap and M*A*S*H. Thanks.


Can't get it on my Series 3, but I can't get it on my SA8300 either. Its not a listed channel. I think tivo has jumped the gun on adding ION-HD.


----------



## Miller

boywaja said:


> Can't get it on my Series 3, but I can't get it on my SA8300 either. Its not a listed channel. I think tivo has jumped the gun on adding ION-HD.


Thanks for the confirmation. I won't bother calling.


----------



## dhalesky

I&#8217;ve been though a complete nightmare with my experience in the Northern Virginia are with COX and my Tivo HD. I first picked up a Cisco STA1520 TA box from COX in early Dec 2008 and when connected it would immediately reboot itself about every 20 to 30 minutes, of course stopping anything your trying to record or watching which migth be switched video channels. I called COX and on one understood the technology at all, couldn&#8217;t help me, finally a regional service manager emailed me to wait until Jan 09 for a Tivo software update. I did that, not using the TA adapter, and when no update happened from Tivo call Tivo customer support and they knew nothing about an update. 

This is a really long story but COX sent out a senior tech how know almost everything the did about the TA, Tivo and their cabling system. He almost rewired my complete location, all new filters and replace my single stream cablecards with a multistream card, and a new Cisco TA box. That seemed to stop the TA rebooting, but after he left it rebooted about every 3 to 4 hours. COX asked me to get Tivo to swap out my TIVO HD for a new unit. I spent a week asking Tivo to do that, got tired of them asking me to wait for level 2 TIVO support to contact me, they never did so last week I bought a new TIVO HD to make sure this issue was or was not TIVO. After many connections into TIVO to bring my unit up to software release 11 my TA box actually ran 7 hours without a reboot, then started acting up once again. COX sent out an engineer who swapped the multistream cablecard and that seemed to settle the box down again, but once again today the TA box (3rd box I&#8217;ve had) is rebooting every hour or so. 

Now that I've had three new TA boxes, new TIVO V11.b just installed the other night ( a TIVO senior customer svc manager called me the other night also and said he talks with COX management weekly and COX knows this is not a TIVO software issue) and I even purchased a NEW Tivo HD last Wednesday, I've eliminated most everything possible that either COX or TIVO could point a finger too. Today I've left the USB cable off the TA box and it syncs to a solid green light for a while, then on its own 'blinks' again which tells me the box is rebooting itself and since its NOT connected to the TIVO HD via USB, this has to be a problem with the Cisco TA box and how its communication with the COX headend system, IMHO 

I&#8217;m loosing any faith this technology between TIVO, CISCO and COX is anywhere near stability!!


----------



## Revolutionary

The randomness of this device's performance is driving me crazy.

My TA has been stable for about a month. I moved it to a cooler spot, and I genuinely think that improved its stability. 

Until last night, when it went haywire and rebooted every 3 minutes for about an hour, right in the middle of primetime (from about 8:15 until about 9:15). Then it just recovered.

The worst part? The Tivo is clearly not capable of handling reboots by the TA. Sure, it displays the "tuning adapter connected" screen everytime -- that's not so bad. But the Tivo also stops recording and doesn't automatically resume like it would if the Tivo itself restarted. And if you are in the middle of playing back a recording, it RESETS the recording, so you lose your place and have to start at the beginning. Which wouldn't be so bad, if the damned thing didn't restart 20 times in the space of an hour.

I'm really not sure the extra 20 HD channels are worth the psychological damage this device is causing.


----------



## deaddeeds

I hear you on the rebooting problem even though mine have been behaving a lot better lately. But I am having pixelation problems and I rarely had pixelation problems before the TA. I have also read the TA thread for TWC and they are having the same problems noted in this thread. This seems to be adding up to a CISCO & TiVo problem. It also seems like we are heading for more firmware and software updates from both CISCO and TiVo for this overheating magical rebooting box.


----------



## Revolutionary

[rant] Tivo beta tested this thing, right? How did the testers not note, "Oh, by the way, when the tuning adapter restarts, the Tivo completely looses its composure and can't recover on its own."

AND it breaks MRV to S2 boxes! AND dozens of channels that weren't before are now 0x02.

Why is this thing a good idea again?
[/rant]


----------



## milo99

you gotta remember that this thing was rolled out in an expedited manner, we never expected it to be perfect right away. we're the early adopters, so we need to expect some problems.

the other thing is that we're having these issues on the SDV channels, not the regular ones, so at least we're able to get what we had before and MORE. I'm sure Tivo and CISCO are working on fixing the glitches.

I'm personally not having any more issues beyond the pixelation. that's completely random, and when it starts, gets to be really annoying. sometimes switching channels does help, but of course, can't do that while recording, so we have to just grin and bear it for now.


----------



## pdpyromaster

Except It IS COX'S problem.....

They're the ones who rolled out SDV before the Tuning Adapters were ready, and not to mention got FINED by the FCC for doing it (that whole violating federal law thing...) So I for one think that seeing as how SDV currently ecnompasses roughly 300 Channels (or roughly 1/2 of cox's current lineup) They should only charge me half of my bill until everything is worked out.

Remember you wouldn't even be allowed to use a TIVO with a cablecard if it wasn't for them being mandated by law to do so. Cox should NEVER have deployed SDV until they had a proper solution in place for cable cards.


----------



## djones18

pdpyromaster said:


> Except It IS COX'S problem.....
> 
> They're the ones who rolled out SDV before the Tuning Adapters were ready, and not to mention got FINED by the FCC for doing it (that whole violating federal law thing...) So I for one think that seeing as how SDV currently ecnompasses roughly 300 Channels (or roughly 1/2 of cox's current lineup) They should only charge me half of my bill until everything is worked out.
> 
> Remember you wouldn't even be allowed to use a TIVO with a cablecard if it wasn't for them being mandated by law to do so. Cox should NEVER have deployed SDV until they had a proper solution in place for cable cards.


Views differ on the "...should NEVER have deployed..." until ready issue and you are quite right it is Cox's problem. As one of the first 50+ folks who received Tuning Adapters in Fairfax County in December 2008, I was aware Cox was distributing them early due to pressure from the County Government. Cox clearly would have preferred delaying deployment for more testing and staff training. I was prepared to be an early adopter. Glitches in activation and operation occurred as Cox began to understand the complex transactions required among their several departments to activate these devices. The learning curve for Cox has been near vertical. Within this context, I'm still glad the TA's came out early here, in December. I would have preferred a fully tested simple plug-and-play device with a totally knowledgeable Cox staff but knew in advance that would not be the case.

A review of the initial Tuning Adapter blueprint or "White Paper" illustrates a very complex signal, electrical, authentication balancing act between the Cableco Headend, the TA, the TiVo, and the installed CableCards. Failure opportunities are high and we are seeing them nationwide as TA's are being deployed. Unfortunate, but a fact. Firmware updates will continue to reduce, but not eliminate, glitches. The TA is an expedited, interim device with a limited market within the larger Cable market. It will have to suffice until a more stable Tru2way TiVo is available. Despite frustrations with the TA, I would never go back to the SA-8300 DVR I rented before moving to TiVo HD. But that's an issue for an entirely different thread.


----------



## pdpyromaster

I agree that I'm glad they deployed the Adapters when they did, it would be great, 'if they worked...' As far, mine seems fairly content to reset itself whenever someone sneezes at Cox and I have an entire DVR full of partial recordings.
My argument is that the whole SDV thing seems like an end run around the CableCard system to begin with. I have no faith that Tru2way will work at any point in the near term seeing as how it took Cox NoVA only about 3 years to get CableCard installs to a reasonable level of competency.

And insofar as "NEVER have deployed", I'm referring to the SDV system to begin with. They're not set up for it properly, at either the front end (CableCards) or the back end (They're node sizes are still WAY too large in most areas to realize the benefits) As someone who designs RF comms systems for a living, I can truly appreciate the trouble Cox is having with Tivo and Cisco in this arena, but it doesn't excuse them from having deployed a technology (SDV) before they were ready to support it, that IMHO is the truly inexcusable error, and consequently what they got fined for. On that note I will be interested to see what attempts Cox makes to keep my business, both in terms of willingness to credit my account for having to deal with all of this (basically paying for "privilege" of beta testing their stuff) and retroactively in terms of the fact that they've been charging Tivo customers for channels they can't receive for what could soon be the better part of 2 years.


----------



## jfranklin

First off I want to say to those of you that have sent me PMs over the last two months I didn't know they were there. I thought I had my account setup to email me when I got a message. That having been said, sending me a message to look into your account is not the best way to address a problem. While I am fairly well versed in how to setup and trouble shoot the TA and CableCARDs in TiVos, I am not the only one. I realize that those who aren't as well versed outnumber those who are, and I realize that it can be frustrating talking to someone that knows less about your problem than you do. (Believe me, it's just as frustrating talking to people that think they know more than you, when they don't... but such is the day of a technical support rep. *grin*) Calling in is the best way to address all of the situations in play here.

Part of the reason that training for the TA is so sparse is because there are so few in the field in comparison to the number of customers, so training for other issues is a higher priority. This has nothing to do with what Cox thinks is 'more important', it's just simple supply and demand. We only have so many agents, so many trainers, and so much time to devote to training when there are calls to take. So if I handle all your problems not only do I have no free time, but these problems don't show up as trends.

Now most of the questions left for me were old, and I'm sure that you all have already called in. Also there was a firmware update for the TA since most of them were sent. So hopefully it addressed some of the problems. If any of you all are still experiencing technical problems outside of the 'normal' digital service problems like tiling, or black (grey) screen on some channels, let me know about it, but please first call in to technical support. Not only may the agent you speak with be able to help you, but it will also push forward the idea that more through training is needed for what is in all reality a niche product.

p.s. For those of you that aren't aware, while I do not own a S3 TiVo, I am the happy owner of more than one S2 unit, so understand that I have just as much interest in serving you all as an employee of Cox as I do as a customer of TiVo.


----------



## djones18

pdpyromaster said:


> I agree that I'm glad they deployed the Adapters when they did, it would be great, 'if they worked...' As far, mine seems fairly content to reset itself whenever someone sneezes at Cox and I have an entire DVR full of partial recordings.
> My argument is that the whole SDV thing seems like an end run around the CableCard system to begin with. I have no faith that Tru2way will work at any point in the near term seeing as how it took Cox NoVA only about 3 years to get CableCard installs to a reasonable level of competency.
> 
> And insofar as "NEVER have deployed", I'm referring to the SDV system to begin with. They're not set up for it properly, at either the front end (CableCards) or the back end (They're node sizes are still WAY too large in most areas to realize the benefits) As someone who designs RF comms systems for a living, I can truly appreciate the trouble Cox is having with Tivo and Cisco in this arena, but it doesn't excuse them from having deployed a technology (SDV) before they were ready to support it, that IMHO is the truly inexcusable error, and consequently what they got fined for. On that note I will be interested to see what attempts Cox makes to keep my business, both in terms of willingness to credit my account for having to deal with all of this (basically paying for "privilege" of beta testing their stuff) and retroactively in terms of the fact that they've been charging Tivo customers for channels they can't receive for what could soon be the better part of 2 years.


Thanks for clarifying and for your views on the manner in which Cox deployed SDV and their TiVo solution. Absolutely agree...more so when I think about the fact we are paying a fair amount of our disposable income on monthly cable.

I say all this as I troubleshoot my TA which deceptively, with a steady green light and TA connected TiVo screen, stopped transmitting channel data to my TiVo this morning. Got it back online but not before an hour of plugging and unplugging. I now keep a folder next to the TiVo of all troubleshooting from this and other forums. Cheers.

BTW, welcome back Jody Franklin. You were instrumental helping us get this TA ball rolling last December in the Northern Virginia area. Hope you will continue to add your expertise as more and more people around the Country bring their TAs online. It might be helpful for you to add any additional tips and tricks at the user level you've discovered which haven't been addressed on this forum.


----------



## Revolutionary

jfranklin said:


> First off I want to say to those of you that have sent me PMs over the last two months I didn't know they were there. I thought I had my account setup to email me when I got a message. That having been said, sending me a message to look into your account is not the best way to address a problem. While I am fairly well versed in how to setup and trouble shoot the TA and CableCARDs in TiVos, I am not the only one. I realize that those who aren't as well versed outnumber those who are, and I realize that it can be frustrating talking to someone that knows less about your problem than you do. (Believe me, it's just as frustrating talking to people that think they know more than you, when they don't... but such is the day of a technical support rep. *grin*) Calling in is the best way to address all of the situations in play here.
> 
> Part of the reason that training for the TA is so sparse is because there are so few in the field in comparison to the number of customers, so training for other issues is a higher priority. This has nothing to do with what Cox thinks is 'more important', it's just simple supply and demand. We only have so many agents, so many trainers, and so much time to devote to training when there are calls to take. So if I handle all your problems not only do I have no free time, but these problems don't show up as trends.
> 
> Now most of the questions left for me were old, and I'm sure that you all have already called in. Also there was a firmware update for the TA since most of them were sent. So hopefully it addressed some of the problems. If any of you all are still experiencing technical problems outside of the 'normal' digital service problems like tiling, or black (grey) screen on some channels, let me know about it, but please first call in to technical support. Not only may the agent you speak with be able to help you, but it will also push forward the idea that more through training is needed for what is in all reality a niche product.
> 
> p.s. For those of you that aren't aware, while I do not own a S3 TiVo, I am the happy owner of more than one S2 unit, so understand that I have just as much interest in serving you all as an employee of Cox as I do as a customer of TiVo.


Any word on the CCI byte issue, Jody? Or is that essentially a lost cause?


----------



## jfranklin

Revolutionary said:


> Any word on the CCI byte issue, Jody? Or is that essentially a lost cause?


I wish I had something, even if it was "It's not gonna change, sorry, have a nice day." as at least it would be something.

I have sent an email to the person that contacted me, and have yet to get a response. I'll send another, just in case it got lost in the shuffle. As for now, though, wait and see is all I have to give because it's all I've got.

I really am sorry, would love to see a resolution to this either way.


----------



## Revolutionary

Oh, don't be sorry. We know you didn't break it!  We just appreciate your looking out for us!


----------



## qtip96

Folks,

Looks like Cisco has released firmware STA1.0.0_1520_LR_F.0801 which supposedly corrects the tuning adapter rebooting issues we have been seeing. I contacted the Cox supervisor who I've been working with and gave him a heads up. He is checking with their engineers to see if they can get a hold of this new firmware.


----------



## mriechers

OK folks, I've got a new issue. TA + Tivo was working almost flawlessly (save for some pixelation) on 2 different Tivo HDs in my house for 4+ weeks now. Then, this issue:

Many of my SDV channels are showing up as simply black screen with no error message, or black screen with an error message of "Channel not available." I have tried rebooting the tivo and pressing the power button on the TA, but it does not appear to want to power cycle itself. The reboots are not helping me get my channels back. I then went into the TA menu inside Tivo and did a "Test channels" and it tells me there are "No channels available" even though a majority of them are working! I'm stumped.

I am scared to unplug the TA or have to go through any other mess, as this is all new to me. Could anyone suggest some troubleshooting tips or where to turn next? Again, this is mostly affecting high number SDV HD channels in the 720+ range, but also randomly channels like CNNHD 708, and ESPNHD / ESPN2HD 716/717. Basically, the things I watch.


----------



## Revolutionary

mriechers said:


> OK folks, I've got a new issue. TA + Tivo was working almost flawlessly (save for some pixelation) on 2 different Tivo HDs in my house for 4+ weeks now. Then, this issue:
> 
> Many of my SDV channels are showing up as simply black screen with no error message, or black screen with an error message of "Channel not available." I have tried rebooting the tivo and pressing the power button on the TA, but it does not appear to want to power cycle itself. The reboots are not helping me get my channels back. I then went into the TA menu inside Tivo and did a "Test channels" and it tells me there are "No channels available" even though a majority of them are working! I'm stumped.
> 
> I am scared to unplug the TA or have to go through any other mess, as this is all new to me. Could anyone suggest some troubleshooting tips or where to turn next? Again, this is mostly affecting high number SDV HD channels in the 720+ range, but also randomly channels like CNNHD 708, and ESPNHD / ESPN2HD 716/717. Basically, the things I watch.


You said it yourself. Unplug and replug the TA. Could it possibly get any worse?


----------



## milo99

hey guys, I got an email from Kathryn Falk today (recall she's the Cox VP who worked with us to get the early TAs out), and apparently they've been looking at the forum here and noticing how several folks have been having problems. 

She volunteered to sign up here and help folks troubleshoot, so hopefully we'll be seeing her logging on soon... 

so be gentle.  i think it's a great step which she has no obligation to do, but is doing so to provide us better service.


----------



## deaddeeds

mriechers said:


> OK folks, I've got a new issue. TA + Tivo was working almost flawlessly (save for some pixelation) on 2 different Tivo HDs in my house for 4+ weeks now. Then, this issue:
> 
> Many of my SDV channels are showing up as simply black screen with no error message, or black screen with an error message of "Channel not available." I have tried rebooting the tivo and pressing the power button on the TA, but it does not appear to want to power cycle itself. The reboots are not helping me get my channels back. I then went into the TA menu inside Tivo and did a "Test channels" and it tells me there are "No channels available" even though a majority of them are working! I'm stumped.
> 
> I am scared to unplug the TA or have to go through any other mess, as this is all new to me. Could anyone suggest some troubleshooting tips or where to turn next? Again, this is mostly affecting high number SDV HD channels in the 720+ range, but also randomly channels like CNNHD 708, and ESPNHD / ESPN2HD 716/717. Basically, the things I watch.


I have unplugged both of my TAs on a few occasions and they both returned back to their "normal" operational state after about two min.


----------



## Miller

milo99 said:


> hey guys, I got an email from Kathryn Falk today (recall she's the Cox VP who worked with us to get the early TAs out), and apparently they've been looking at the forum here and noticing how several folks have been having problems.
> 
> She volunteered to sign up here and help folks troubleshoot, so hopefully we'll be seeing her logging on soon...
> 
> so be gentle.  i think it's a great step which she has no obligation to do, but is doing so to provide us better service.


I agree. Kudos to a company rep who cares.


----------



## andygriffith

Revolutionary said:


> We've tried everything. There is no fix, short of disconnecting the tuning adapter and deleting the shows that were recorded while it was installed. (It seems that any show recorded while the TA is connected is toxic to MRV, according to the last post by kcantrell, and not just shows recorded from SDV channels that require the TA).
> 
> Tivo is aware of the problem and hopefully will be able to recreate it and fix it soon.


Same problem here. How they can't find this stuff in testing is beyond me. Get some real beta testers, what a joke.


----------



## [email protected]

Has anyone found a solution that works to this problem.. 722 TBSHD and 737 USAHD are a couple of my favorite channels so this is hitting me hard. I tried repeating the guided setup to no avail.... please help


----------



## milo99

laxbluntz, if you want help, you'll need to provide a lot more detail about your situation. Do you even have a TA? if so, was it ever working? if so, what troubleshooting steps have you taken with the TA? DId you follow the instruction sheet provided by cox?


----------



## qtip96

I checked my tuning adapter and it's been updated to .801. Unfortunately, reboots are still happening and I'm on my 5th tuning adapter. I've disconnected the adapter and of course I'm missing all the SDV channels. Don't know what else to do. :down:


----------



## KathrynNOVA

Hello-
I work for Cox in Northern Virginia and understand that there have been some issues with Tivo Tuning Adpaters. Let me know how i can help and what type of issues remain. I am brand new to the forum but want to work to address your concerns. Thank you
KathrynNOVA


----------



## jctivo

I have a Tivo HD with Cox Fairfax NOVA cable cards and the sdv tuning adapter.

When I try to use the tivo desktop program to transfer a show from my tivo to my laptop, 90% of the shows are copy protected. From what I understand, that should not be the case.

I am talking about all non-network shows are copy protected. FoodTV, HGTV, AMC, PBS Kids, Comedy Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel.

So if you could figure out how we figure out how to "fix" this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance,
jctivo


----------



## Timber

jctivo said:


> I have a Tivo HD with Cox Fairfax NOVA cable cards and the sdv tuning adapter.
> 
> When I try to use the tivo desktop program to transfer a show from my tivo to my laptop, 90% of the shows are copy protected. From what I understand, that should not be the case.
> 
> I am talking about all non-network shows are copy protected. FoodTV, HGTV, AMC, PBS Kids, Comedy Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel.
> 
> So if you could figure out how we figure out how to "fix" this, I would greatly appreciate it.
> 
> Thank you in advance,
> jctivo


I posted on this in the past but just in case Kathryn hasn't seen it:

I used Cox for a long time and most of the programs were copy protected. I recently moved to FIOS, moved service not house, and EXACTLY the same programs were not copy protected. You could tell when the changeover took place by the lack of copy protection afterwards.

-=Tim=-


----------



## MikeVA

qtip96 said:


> I checked my tuning adapter and it's been updated to .801. Unfortunately, reboots are still happening and I'm on my 5th tuning adapter. I've disconnected the adapter and of course I'm missing all the SDV channels. Don't know what else to do. :down:


Just checked my Tuning Adapter, and it has NOT been updated to .801. Is this something that should come automatically, or is it necessary to contact Cox and ask for it? I have a Series 3, and live in NoVA..

Thanks

Mike


----------



## qtip96

MikeVA said:


> Just checked my Tuning Adapter, and it has NOT been updated to .801. Is this something that should come automatically, or is it necessary to contact Cox and ask for it? I have a Series 3, and live in NoVA..
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Mike


I was told yesterday that the .801 firmware was sent only to my adapter since I've been having problems with it since I got it in Feb. It hasn't been deployed to all adapters, but I'm sure it will happen soon.


----------



## Revolutionary

Another round of completely random reboot sequences on Saturday afternoon.

Could this be a bandwidth issue? Everybody hitting the node on the weekends, hammering my dbs and sending my TA into spasms?


----------



## deaddeeds

Revolutionary said:


> Another round of completely random reboot sequences on Saturday afternoon.
> 
> Could this be a bandwidth issue? Everybody hitting the node on the weekends, hammering my dbs and sending my TA into spasms?


Does any really know how this TA box works? We see the symptoms but we do not know the root cause.
My own observation - I have noticed that I am getting pixilation when the SNR is 34db and the signal strength is 95% which could be a sign that the signal is too hot for the TiVo Tuner to handle. So I have been thinking of experimenting with different attenuators as noted by the FIOS customers.


----------



## Revolutionary

I don't care how they work:






Or better, just substitute "My F'ing tuning adapter" for any references to the economy...


----------



## jon96cobra

Revolutionary said:


> I don't care how they work:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Or better, just substitute "My F'ing tuning adapter" for any references to the economy...


Yeah Fix It. :up:


----------



## Revolutionary

So last night we didn't watch any TV, but I had two recordings scheduled. Well, sometime between yesterday morning and prime time last night, the TA did its rebooting thing. The blue screen was waiting to welcome me first thing this morning. In the interim, the TA lost its mind completely and the Tivo was unable to tune ANY channel (not just SDV channels). I got "channel not found" on even the networks. So Tivo missed both recordings. After one reboot I got all the non-SDV channels back, but it took a second power cycle to get the SDV channels back.

Honestly, I feel like I should be paying Cox for this box. It's like I suddenly have one of their Scientific Atlanta DVRs, and I would have to pay for that, right?


----------



## Qwijib0

I just wanted to jump in and provide data on the other end of the spectrum-- since getting my TA activated almost a month ago, it's been fine. I was expecting horrible things after reading this thread but it's just been sitting there, with a solid green light, SDVing it up without issue. 2 S-Cards, WD expander, cox Tucson. The rollout took forever to get here, but they seem to have done it right.


----------



## pmw2cc

Hi, I&#8217;m a COX customer (cable tv & broadband) in Fairfax VA. I have a Series 3 TIVO and about 2.5 months ago I got a tuning adaptor to continue receiving the digital channels. Since then the tuning adaptor has consistently failed to work properly. I&#8217;ve had technicians out 3 times to look at the system and talked to technical support on the phone about 20 times. Nothing has worked and Cox technical support has, in a round-about-way, told me they have no idea what to do. Every time I call in or have a tech come out they try the same debug script and it doesn&#8217;t work.

The problem is always the same. It works fine for a while then the green light starts blinking and the TA drops lock and the TIVO brings up the blue screen. Sometimes this will occur every 5 mins.

So I have no idea what to do at this point. I don&#8217;t have proper service and the problem seems to be destined to stretch on into the indefinite future.


----------



## shabby46

I just lost all SDV channels at some point today. I was watching them around 4 this afternoon and now they are all gone and nothing has helped. I have unplugged the TA and USB and restarted, yet nothing is fixing this. I know a few others have had this problem in the past. Any fixes?


----------



## shabby46

Nevermind.

I unplugged the usb and power then plugged in the power and called the activation number again. after about 2 min the light went solid and when i hooked it to usb again it started working just fine.

First problem Ive had in 3 months with the thing.


----------



## jcaudle

Has there been any news on removing CCI flags so cable programs may be transfered between Tivos? I understand that Verizon doesn't place these silly things on each channel like cox...one more reason to change when they get to me.


----------



## pmw2cc

pmw2cc said:


> Hi, Im a COX customer (cable tv & broadband) in Fairfax VA. I have a Series 3 TIVO and about 2.5 months ago I got a tuning adaptor to continue receiving the digital channels. Since then the tuning adaptor has consistently failed to work properly. ...
> The problem is always the same. It works fine for a while then the green light starts blinking and the TA drops lock and the TIVO brings up the blue screen. Sometimes this will occur every 5 mins.


Okay, I just talked to Mike Foxwell of COX cable. He told me that the problem was the Merrifield VA node for COX cable is bad and most of the TAs in that area are seeing the same problem. Sadly he couldn't say when there would be a fix but they are looking into it.


----------



## Revolutionary

pmw2cc said:


> Okay, I just talked to Mike Foxwell of COX cable. He told me that the problem was the Merrifield VA node for COX cable is bad and most of the TAs in that area are seeing the same problem. Sadly he couldn't say when there would be a fix but they are looking into it.


I'm _near_ Merrifield, so I guess I could be on that node. Anybody know where the nodes are? I'm in Fairfax, just south of the Vienna metro station. Could I be on that node?


----------



## deaddeeds

FYI - I put a 6 dB attenuator at the source on the back of the house Friday and with that the pixelation on USAHD and FXHD has disappeared. Looks like pixelation was a result of the signal being too hot.


----------



## deaddeeds

jcaudle said:


> Has there been any news on removing CCI flags so cable programs may be transfered between Tivos? I understand that Verizon doesn't place these silly things on each channel like cox...one more reason to change when they get to me.


I got a call today from Cox's Customer Advocate. He noted that is issue is currently being worked between Cox Corporate, Cisco and TiVo. He noted that this Copyright Protection is not a policy by Cox but more a result of the nature of the Cisco TA architecture.

Should be interesting to see how all this finally shakes out.


----------



## qtip96

Revolutionary said:


> I'm _near_ Merrifield, so I guess I could be on that node. Anybody know where the nodes are? I'm in Fairfax, just south of the Vienna metro station. Could I be on that node?


That's got to be it. My tuning adapters (all five) have never worked and I live in Merrifield. The Cox supervisor hinted that it could be the node, but wasn't sure at the time.


----------



## jon96cobra

I have noticed my Tuning Adapter in my area has finally calmed down and not needed a reboot since 2 weeks ago. I hope they sort it out in the other Areas soon for you guys too.


----------



## dhalesky

IT's FIXED!!!!!!!

Turns out Cox was able to upload a new Cisco TA software version F.0901 that has actually stopped my TA box from rebooting. That happened around 1am Thursday night and the unit has run through Thursday up to now Friday at 1pm and no reboots. So it appears this rebooting issue is finally resolved ... WOW want a nightmare since December 2008 with that Cisco unit (at least the 5 I've worked with)


----------



## qtip96

pmw2cc said:


> Okay, I just talked to Mike Foxwell of COX cable. He told me that the problem was the Merrifield VA node for COX cable is bad and most of the TAs in that area are seeing the same problem. Sadly he couldn't say when there would be a fix but they are looking into it.


Mike F. called me last week and updated my tuning adapter to firmware 0901. FINALLY -- 3 days now with no rebooting. What a relief -- I can now view the channels I'm paying for and use my Tivo.


----------



## Revolutionary

So wait, do they have to manually push the firmware to individual adapters? Or was this a broadcast push? I have to complain to get a working product, that's not a default goal?


----------



## qtip96

Revolutionary said:


> So wait, do they have to manually push the firmware to individual adapters? Or was this a broadcast push? I have to complain to get a working product, that's not a default goal?


Squeaky wheel gets the grease! Yeah, I've been talking with Cox since Feb about this issue. After 7 visits and 5 tuning adapters, I think it is ok now. The 0901 firmware is Beta -- in fact it could even be Alpha so I'm sure a broadcast deployment will take a little time.

If Mike calls me again, I'll ask what the roadmap is for the 0901 firmware and post here.

Update: You need to call Cox and tell them you need firmware 0901 sent to your adapter. They are not sending out a mass update at this time.


----------



## MikeVA

Well - I called and had a very frustrating conversation with a Cox CSR. I told him what I had read, and after a short break (so he could figure out what i was talking about), he told me that 0901 was a beta version, it's being tested on only a few customers, they aren't planning on broadcasting the change any time soon, etc, etc. Are there some magic words to get the firmware update sent, or someone in particular I should talk to, or what? This rebooting is getting VERY frustrating...!


----------



## deaddeeds

MikeVA said:


> Well - I called and had a very frustrating conversation with a Cox CSR. I told him what I had read, and after a short break (so he could figure out what i was talking about), he told me that 0901 was a beta version, it's being tested on only a few customers, they aren't planning on broadcasting the change any time soon, etc, etc. Are there some magic words to get the firmware update sent, or someone in particular I should talk to, or what? This rebooting is getting VERY frustrating...!


Try contacting the CSR from Cox that follows this thread, KathrynNOVA.


----------



## jon96cobra

So I got home from work yesterday and turned on live TV to find Discovery HD was black screen with tivo message to troubleshoot go to messages and settings. Tried going to a non HD station and I got picture so I Turned off the tuner and turned it back on didn't fix it. Tried a few other stations in HD and they came in but distorted picture and sound. I had to reboot the Tivo after that it was fine. I'm guessing here it was the communication between the tuner and the cable cards?


----------



## Revolutionary

My tuning adapter apparently rebooted my Tivo last night, or vice versa. Was trying to change channels from within the guide, when suddenly the Tivo freezes. After a few seconds, the Tivo reboots, as does the tuning adapter.

I don't know which is to blame, but it sure seems to have been a communication issue between the two units. And since my Tivo never did that before I got the adapter...


----------



## MikeVA

Well - I never heard back from Kathryn, but last night Cox apparently pushed out firmware 0901 to my Tuning Adapter. When I got home today, no blue screen, so hopefully that's a good sign...more to come.

Mike


----------



## JTalbert

For the most part my tuning adapter has worked for me. I have had a few problems though since getting the adapter. I have a Tivo HD, duh, ofcourse in my living room, and a SD DT tivo in the bedroom. Ever since I have installed the tuning adapter, I can see shows on my SD Tivo in the bedroom and transfer shows, but I cannot view any shows from my Tivo HD, nor can I transfer shows. Sometimes, rarely it will list folder of shows I have but once I go into the folder, nothing shows. At some point, I am going to remove my TA and see if I can get the transfers to work again. 

How can you tell what SW version you have on your TA? Anyone else having these problems? 

Also another odd issue is, sometimes if I need to restart my Tivo HD, it will start booting then will say a few more moment and then the screen will go gray. Also twice now, we either turned on the TV and see a grey screen, or the screen goes grey when watching TV. Then when I reboot, sometimes I need to boot two or three times before I can get my tivo back up and running.

So does this sound like I need to get a new TA, or just new firmware?


----------



## rainbow

jctivo said:


> I have a Tivo HD with Cox Fairfax NOVA cable cards and the sdv tuning adapter.
> 
> When I try to use the tivo desktop program to transfer a show from my tivo to my laptop, _90% of the shows are copy protected_. From what I understand, that should not be the case.
> 
> I am talking about all non-network shows are copy protected. FoodTV, HGTV, AMC, PBS Kids, Comedy Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel.
> 
> So if you could figure out how we figure out how to "fix" this, I would greatly appreciate it.
> 
> Thank you in advance,
> jctivo


With this CCI - copy protect - problem .... does this mean the function we have to "transfer to vcr" won't work for programs we have stored on Tivo harddrive? 

If that is the case, then I may not go w/Cox digital after all.


----------



## milo99

not much activity in this thread. have people's problems started getting better (save for the whole copy protection stuff)? i haven't been experiencing any issues in a while... knock on wood.


----------



## deaddeeds

The TA situation for me is good but not great. The copy protections as noted is still an issue and I still get random TA issues. I did have to reboot both of my TiVos and TAs yesterday when all of my HD channels disappeared. My HD TiVo reboots randomly about once every two weeks while my Series 3 never reboots while attached to the TA.


----------



## jcaudle

Some people from Cox used to monitor this thread. The last any of them said was they would check on the copy protection issue and get back to us. Its been months. I don't see why Verizon doesn't set the flags on FiOs with essentially the same cable line up as Cox. Thats why when Fios is available I will change to them


----------



## deaddeeds

The Copy Protection is a result of the implementation of the TA, as it was explained to me by Cox. For Cox to rectify the situation it is taking the cooperation of TiVo and Cisco. Who knows how long this cooperation will take to resolve the copyright protection.

FIOS would be a nice option if it was available.


----------



## jcaudle

deaddeeds said:


> The Copy Protection is a result of the implementation of the TA, as it was explained to me by Cox. For Cox to rectify the situation it is taking the cooperation of TiVo and Cisco. Who knows how long this cooperation will take to resolve the copyright protection.
> 
> FIOS would be a nice option if it was available.


yes, but they are copy protecting networks that were not originally copy protected in their digital or analog versions. Why does the HD version copy protected. Its too bad Cox uses this junk SA/Cisco equipment in this area instead of Motorola.


----------



## djones18

My TiVo HD and TA have played nice together since March until last Friday. Friday evening without any outward indications, SDV channels and several analogue channels displayed the dreaded "Channel not available" notice. Had to repower the TA and restart the TiVo HD twice to get them playing nice together again. Happened once again after this episode. Everything operating normally now. 

Haven't had this problem since the early days of installation hell, last December. Wonder if Cox made some firmware changes which doodled up the whole system.


----------



## colorofstatic

This seems like a simple firmware fix, or maybe even a setting on the head end equipment at Cox. Can we expect a fix soon, or is this going to be a big mark in the Negative column when comparing Cox cable to Verizon FIOS?



KathrynNOVA said:


> Hello-
> I work for Cox in Northern Virginia and understand that there have been some issues with Tivo Tuning Adpaters. Let me know how i can help and what type of issues remain. I am brand new to the forum but want to work to address your concerns. Thank you
> KathrynNOVA


----------



## milo99

djones18 said:


> My TiVo HD and TA have played nice together since March until last Friday. Friday evening without any outward indications, SDV channels and several analogue channel displayed the dreaded "Channel not available" notice. Had to repower the TA and restart the TiVo HD twice to get them playing nice together again. Happened once again after this episode. Everything operating normally now.
> 
> Haven't had this problem since the early days of installation hell, last December. Wonder if Cox made some firmware changes which doodled up the whole system.


you know, as soon as i freagin wrote that post, i went home and had the SAME issue. NO channels at all came up (well, ok i didn't go to all of them to verify, but no SDV channels, not the local networks, not the 100 or 200s. So after rebooting the TA a couple times, it finally kicked in. Forgot to check the firmware version though...


----------



## Revolutionary

My TA has finally been stable. I don't know what firmware it is on now - maybe they finally pushed out the update. I did have an issue where not all channels were coming in last Thursday after the thunderstorms rolled through Little Calcutta (my affectionate name for my neighborhood, which has all above-ground power and cable lines, so the power and cable are constantly going out during the summer), but a single power-cycle fixed it.

The idea that it is somehow Cisco and Tivo's fault that most channels are copy-protected when using the TA is complete crap. Many channels that are not delivered by SDV are protected with the TA attached -- and likewise, many channels that are not delivered by SDV are NOT protected with the TA attached. That seems arbitrary to me -- like an engineer simply didn't change the default setting when rigging up their head-end SDV architecture.

EDIT: I just sent Kathryn a PM seeking an update. Will let you know if/when I hear from her, if she doesn't post directly.


----------



## Miller

Yea, we received a flyer on our door recently stating that FIOS is on its way. If Cox does not resolve this copy protection issue by then (and it is a COX issue) we will transfer to Verizon.

Are you reading this, Cox?


----------



## bicker

FCC Vacates SDV Rulings Against Time Warner Cable, Cox


----------



## deaddeeds

bicker said:


> FCC Vacates SDV Rulings Against Time Warner Cable, Cox


I was afraid of that, with the new administration we have new FCC Chairman. The old Chairman was a former advisor to Verizon who had it out for the Cable Companies. Somebody needs to send the new FCC Chairman a TiVo!


----------



## bicker

Yes, it does seem that the unfair reign of terror against cable companies is over, at the FCC. Hopefully, now, there will be a greater move towards parity, imposing all the requirements currently imposed on cable onto the satellite providers, without regard to excuses and rationalizations.


----------



## milo99

well, as long as we have a TA until Tivo develops a machine that'll work w/o one, i'm fine. The gripe we all had was the lack of a TA to allow us to get the channels, so the fact that we have one now, i personally no longer have a gripe.


----------



## Joe3

bicker said:


> Yes, it does seem that the unfair reign of terror against cable companies is over, at the FCC. Hopefully, now, there will be a greater move towards parity, imposing all the requirements currently imposed on cable onto the satellite providers, without regard to excuses and rationalizations.


Or how abut this, imposing all the requirements currently imposed on satellite onto the cable providers, without regard to excuses and rationalizations.

It's a little less oppressive and possible


----------



## bicker

Nah, not possible. People would never put up with a cable company basically saying it isn't going to provide local broadcast channels on the basic tier anymore.


----------



## acslater

One of my TAs appears to have stopped working. When it is plugged into my Tivo, I get the "Searching for signal" message on all channels despite multiple restart/unplug/plugin attempts. When I bypass the TA, I get the non SDV channels with no problem. Anyone seen anything like this?


----------



## deaddeeds

acslater said:


> One of my TAs appears to have stopped working. When it is plugged into my Tivo, I get the "Searching for signal" message on all channels despite multiple restart/unplug/plugin attempts. When I bypass the TA, I get the non SDV channels with no problem. Anyone seen anything like this?


The TA is not the most reliable piece of equipment. Do the normal trouble shooting (see page 9 of the thread) of powering off the TA and making it reboot. If you still dont have your channels then reboot the TiVo. If still no dice then you can have Cox ping/refresh your TA. Lastly, it may have just overheated and died so then you would need to exchange the TA.


----------



## davezatz

Ah hell, Cox uses SDV and I'm moving from Comcast next week. Anyone know where I can find a list of NoVA HD digital channels I won't get if I forgo the flakey tuning adapter?

While I'm at it, how much do they charge for CableCARDs and/or AOs - didn't see it on their web site. 

(The neighborhood has FiOS, but Internet-only for now.)

Thanks!


----------



## deaddeeds

davezatz said:


> Ah hell, Cox uses SDV and I'm moving from Comcast next week. Anyone know where I can find a list of NoVA HD digital channels I won't get if I forgo the flakey tuning adapter?
> 
> While I'm at it, how much do they charge for CableCARDs and/or AOs - didn't see it on their web site.
> 
> (The neighborhood has FiOS, but Internet-only for now.)
> 
> Thanks!


I will say the vast majority of HD channels are SDV.
CableCARD is $1.99 for either the Single or Multi Stream Cards.


----------



## Revolutionary

davezatz said:


> Ah hell, Cox uses SDV and I'm moving from Comcast next week. Anyone know where I can find a list of NoVA HD digital channels I won't get if I forgo the flakey tuning adapter?
> 
> While I'm at it, how much do they charge for CableCARDs and/or AOs - didn't see it on their web site.
> 
> (The neighborhood has FiOS, but Internet-only for now.)
> 
> Thanks!


Their new website is the most obtuse bit of disclosure I've seen in a while. It is nearly impossible to tell how much anything costs apart from one of their god-forsaken bundles.

Cablecards are $1.99 each, plus $6.99 for the digital outlet fee. If you have an S3 with two cards, they should only charge you one outlet fee -- for my account they charge $12.98, but then credit me $5.99 for the second outlet fee.

As for channels, the only HD channels that are NOT SDV (based on my recollection from pre-tuning adapter service) are:

701-707 (locals)
709-723 (can't recall, but 715-Palladia may now be SDV)
726 (PBS)

Everything else is SDV. There are also a number of digital SD channels that are also switched -- most are crap, but BBC America is on the list.

Oh, and the 0x02 byte is still in full effect for all switched channels, so TTG and MRV are essentially dead for most of my programming.


----------



## thewebgal

Got a really nice combination of gear tied to the system, but its intermittent at best. I have a heavy TV, a rack of audio gear, and its a real pain to pull everything off the wall every time something acts up with the cable system.

I've recently started TIVOing BBCAmerica after some coworkers told me about TopGear, That show is a hoot - but over the weekend I noticed a number of channels just show up as grey when I try and tune them. And last night the TIVO was trying to record BBCA -= a greyed out blank channel. So I've missed this week's show.

Anyone here live near George Mason U and have good luck with TIVO and FIOS??

I am not keen on having the copper landline pulled out, and having to redo my working wireless network - but thats the _*only *_reasons I haven't had FIOS installed yet.

But I'm getting REALLY close - seems the signal levels on the COX cable varies from season to season and its up to ME to call in every few months when I lose channels ...


----------



## bmgoodman

thewebgal said:


> I am not keen on having the copper landline pulled out, and having to redo my working wireless network - but thats the _*only *_reasons I haven't had FIOS installed yet.


I've read that if you INSIST they leave the copper intact that you can have it reconnected if you choose to drop FIOS. Of course, you'd better get that in writing.

I don't have FIOS TV available in my area yet, so I cannot help with that aspect.


----------



## thewebgal

Further info on my BBC America problem ...
If I power cycle the Cisco dongle the missing channels will come back in - but about a week later they drop out again. FOr instance - BBC America - the TIVOHD recorded Top Gear just fine Sunday and Tues - but last night the channel just showed grey - like it was something I don't pay for (like HBO and the other premiums) ...

I power cycled the Cisco "dongle" and a few moments later the TIVOHD rebooted itself - and as it was getting late anyway, I gave up and headed to bed ...


----------



## jmyshral

I am on Cox and just got an HD Tivo with tuning adapter. I have two problems - the first is that about 90% of my Tivo recordings are copy protected and can't be transferred using Tivo Desktop. It's weird, sometimes the same show on the same channel is protected, sometimes it is not.

I also have a second Series 2 Tivo connected to a digital box with no HD or tuning adapter. I can transfer recordings from the S2 Tivo to the HD Tivo, but not the other way around. Apparently this is also a known issue relating to the tuning adapter and SDV channels.

Hopefully Tivo will fix these issues soon. Any ideas on how we can bring more visibility to these problems?


----------



## DrewTivo

Have the TA issues died down with Cox in NoVa? My in-laws are looking to go HD but I don't want to create trouble for them with cable cards, tuning adapters and such if possible.


----------



## deaddeeds

Over the past week I have seen this new SDV message on my screen a few times "Press SELECT if you are still watching this channel. Otherwise..."

Is this something new or I have just started noticing it? Is Cox so hard up for bandwidth that they don't want to broadcast SDV channels even when the tuner is on that channel?


----------



## billjoiner

After 50+ hours of Cox onsite trouble shooting regarding pixelation and rebooting on my series 3 and premiere boxes in addition to rack mounting all equipment and air conditioning the enclosure to insure the problem wasn't heat related the problem remained. The simpilcity of the solution when we found it made the process even more frustrating. The solution turned out to be that when Cox installed the tuning adapter they put it right on top of the TIVO box. We moved the tuning adapter away from the TIVO box and the problem instantly dissapeared. It seems that the Motorolla tuning adapaters are not sheilded and thus do not like to be in close proximity to the TIVO boxes--setting the tuning adapter on top of another piece of equipment causes the problem to re-occur, while letting it hang by it's cables in mid air solves the problem-move your tuning adapter away from any other equipment to solve the problem.


----------



## Beernutts

billjoiner said:


> After 50+ hours of Cox onsite trouble shooting regarding pixelation and rebooting on my series 3 and premiere boxes in addition to rack mounting all equipment and air conditioning the enclosure to insure the problem wasn't heat related the problem remained. The simpilcity of the solution when we found it made the process even more frustrating. The solution turned out to be that when Cox installed the tuning adapter they put it right on top of the TIVO box. We moved the tuning adapter away from the TIVO box and the problem instantly dissapeared. It seems that the Motorolla tuning adapaters are not sheilded and thus do not like to be in close proximity to the TIVO boxes--setting the tuning adapter on top of another piece of equipment causes the problem to re-occur, while letting it hang by it's cables in mid air solves the problem-move your tuning adapter away from any other equipment to solve the problem.


I've never had that problem, and my tuning adapter has always been right on top of the TiVo. It's probably just your tuning adapter that has a problem.


----------



## djones18

Beernutts said:


> I've never had that problem, and my tuning adapter has always been right on top of the TiVo. It's probably just your tuning adapter that has a problem.


I've had my Tuning Adapter on top of my TiVo HD for over two years without problems. However, it is a fact TAs run hot and if the area they are in is not well vented, failures occur.

Having said that, I did have to move my TiVo HD farther from my 32" Sharp LCD TV because the flourescent lighting and/or auto lighting adjust system in the TV was interferring with the IR blaster on the TiVo. This one took months to diagnose. Once I moved the TiVo two feet from the TV to a lower stack shelf, the problem ceased.


----------



## drevilkep

billjoiner said:


> After 50+ hours of Cox onsite trouble shooting regarding pixelation and rebooting on my series 3 and premiere boxes in addition to rack mounting all equipment and air conditioning the enclosure to insure the problem wasn't heat related the problem remained. The simpilcity of the solution when we found it made the process even more frustrating. The solution turned out to be that when Cox installed the tuning adapter they put it right on top of the TIVO box. We moved the tuning adapter away from the TIVO box and the problem instantly dissapeared. It seems that the Motorolla tuning adapaters are not sheilded and thus do not like to be in close proximity to the TIVO boxes--setting the tuning adapter on top of another piece of equipment causes the problem to re-occur, while letting it hang by it's cables in mid air solves the problem-move your tuning adapter away from any other equipment to solve the problem.


Cox uses Motorola TAs in the N. VA market? I thought it was only Cisco?


----------



## b.sqrd

Ok, so I've had sporadic problems with my Tivo Series 3 HD and Cox Communications. The main problems have been: 
1) Certain channels will basically stop displaying, leaving a grey screen on the channel. The next channel still works. I can't seem to get the problem channel to come back without resetting my Tivo (which takes literally 10-15 minutes). Very frustrating... my show doesn't get recorded and I am sometimes out on travel for a week or more and thus miss many shows as a result of this. Ugggh.... sigh.
2) I also have seen the message saying that I need to press the SELECT button if I wish to continue watching this channel. I have posted a picture of the error message on my flickr page, but this site won't let me submit it with this post because I haven't posted 5 times. Oh well.

I have called Cox technical support and they came by today. I explained the problems I have had. They say that "Tivo is very picky about the signal, and that can cause it to lose channels". They also said that they have seen problems with different components in the setup. Here is a list of components which have been replaced/fixed at other customers that supposedly resolved this kind of problem:
1) The USB cable between the Tuning Adapter and the Tivo
2) The USB cable was moved to the alternate USB port on the Tivo
3) Coax cables have been replaced with "thicker wire" versions and splitters have been replaced as needed. They replaced a couple of Coax cables and put new connectors on the end of the cable source Coax cable. A couple of my cable splitters are outside of the house and it seems that weather will corrode device to the point to interfere with the cable signal over time.
4) Faulty cable cards were replaced.

Thus it seems that there can be many reasons this issue occurs and you're probably best to just call your cable provider out to replace these components and ensure signal strength is good.

According to the techs that came out, Tivo apparently requires a "Signal to Noise" (S/N) ratio of "33" or better to maintain channel tuning. You can actually see the S/N ratio from the Tivo by going through these menus: "Messages & Settings -> Settings -> Remote, CableCARD, & Devices -> Tuning Adapter -> Tuning Adapter Diagnostics -> RF Statistics -> Next Page". The S/N: <number> should be greater than 33 for the Tivo to properly tune these channels according to the techs. You can hit "Refresh" to see if this drops below 33. You should also see "0" for "Corr Bytes" and "Uncor Blks".

I have the Cisco branded Tuning Adapter.

I hope this helps you all!
-B.sqrd


----------



## CoxInPHX

Try using a splitter to feed the coax directly to both the Cisco TA and the TiVo separately, Instead of using the coax pass-through on the TA. See if that makes a difference. Also make sure the TA is well ventilated, not inside an enclosed space with other electronics.

See The following: Tuning Adapter Troubleshooting - My Survival Guide
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=461700&highlight=sdv+phoenix

Also Ceton actually states in their documentation "Do not use the Tuning Adapter RF pass through"
http://www.cetoncorp.com/documents/InfiniTV 4 Detailed Installation Procedure v1.2.pdf

I would not attach the TA to the back of the TV as the above post recommends. I would mount it to the back of the AV cabinet, or place it on its own shelf.

Cox will also be deploying a firmware update to the Cisco TA in August, so it will support 4 tuners. Hopefully the update will also address stability issues.


----------



## jjon2121

Try moving the tuning adapter away from other electronic equipment. The Cisco seems to have a shielding problem.


----------



## deaddeeds

I had the same problem so I dumped Cox and switched to Fios. Ever since I switched to Fios my 3 TiVos are much more reliable. TiVo + TA = Bad


----------



## toadyboyy

Just got finished with a CS tech with Charter. His name is Sal, he's great.
I was missing channels with my new Tivo. I called and called Charter to resend the "hit" to my TA. My TA kept blinking and I was missing only the HD channels that are SWITCH DIGITAL. Sal did some configurations but overall it came down to the sequence of the equipment I have with Charter. Somehow the TA was not in the correct sequence and that made the tuner not find or authenticate with their system. He made this switch with CS and the tuner finally had a solid green light.


----------

