# How do I turn OFF the "Are you still watching this Channel Feature?" on Roamio?



## steelersruleman (Aug 29, 2014)

This is driving me nuts, and i think it effects my recordings sometimes.

My Roamio has the annoying habit of asking me, "If you are still watching this channel, please press the SELECT button"; about every hour, or so(maybe longer).

I thought this may have been part of the POWER SAVING settings, but could not find a setting to TURN THIS OFF. 

It is just annoying, and I think it sometimes causes problems with recordings(plus the fact that I have to use a SDV Tuner(Spectrum) with it, which causes the channels to have to be changed back and forth after leaving the unit on all night(typical, I don;t put it in SLEEP MODE) when I get up in the morning. Tuning to the next channel up/down solves the problem, but still a PIA(this could because of HYDRA interface as well. God, how I WISH I never upgraded to that piece of crap)

Anyway, is there some way to turn this off? I hope so...


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

That is not a TiVo message. Call your Spectrum office. It's probably a SDV feature designed to piss you off. Pandora will do it also.


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## wish_bgr (Jul 19, 2014)

steelersruleman said:


> ...
> It is just annoying, and I think it sometimes causes problems with recordings(plus the fact that I have to use a SDV Tuner(Spectrum) with it, which causes the channels to have to be changed back and forth after leaving the unit on all night(typical, I don;t put it in SLEEP MODE) when I get up in the morning. ...


Am also in a Spectrum market, with SDV/Tuner, but on Encore experience. I don't recall the message interrupting recordings on any channels served on switched digital (QVC, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, and Sundance come to mind) as I have recorded a few things and have not seen the interruption. I think there is something programmatic built-in to keep the channel "fresh and alive" to avoid the SDV reminder message.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

If you record a program, rather than watch live, the TiVo will keep the SDV connection alive automatically.

The whole purpose of SDV is that they provision a small number of frequencies to a bigger number of channels. When someone is actively watching a given channel one of those frequencies is used for that channel. They have to know that someone is actively watching the channel so that they can keep that frequency alive. If not then they return it to the pool so it can be used for one of the other channels when requested. Done poorly SDV doesn't save them any bandwidth and/or annoys their customers. Done well it's basically transparent to the user because it's used for channels accessed so infrequently that no one ever notices.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Yep. On my Spectrum/TWC (with SDV and TA) I went for 7 years without seeing that message then suddenly started getting it two years ago if an SDV channel was tuned but not being recorded for some length of time, seemingly around a half hour. If the channel is tuned but not being watched, you don't get a message, but it un-tunes and you lose the 30 min buffer. Then you get a different message and have to hit select a couple of times to re-tune when you rotate your viewed channel to that tuner.

I assume they've been packing more channels into the system. Just another TA-related annoyance that I will not miss when I eventually cut the cord.


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## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

Streaming services usually use that channel alert, so it's probably your cable provider, and as others have said it may be related to your tuning adapter and SDV


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

I’ve noticed this problem recently. I typically turn off my tv at night while tuned to an SDV Channel. I’ve noticed recently that when turning on the tv in the morning I have a blank screen so I assume a warning was sent, there was no response and Spectrum cancelled the feed.

Years ago, iirc, it used to affect a recording, but TiVo added software change to prevent the problem.


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## steelersruleman (Aug 29, 2014)

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense that it is the Tuning Adapter. So, what I do now, before going to bed, is to put all the tuners on a local channel(NBC/CBS/ABC/etc...), and this seems to keep it from being a problem.

I was to quick to blame TIVO. Sorry TIVO.


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## tim_m (Mar 8, 2017)

Yeah it is just cause it is a SDV channel. After several hours of you not using the remote the message will pop up. If you don't hit select the channel will stop transmitting. It is just how SDV works. It is kinda like IPTV where the channel isn't sent to every home unless you specifically tune to it. That's exactly how SDV works. It is meant to save bandwidth and be able to carry more channels.


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

Never saw this when I had sdv and Cox Cable. I wonder if they are doing something different.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

mattyro7878 said:


> Never saw this when I had sdv and Cox Cable. I wonder if they are doing something different.


They can definitely do "something different". My system rarely showed this message when it was TWC for 6 or 7 years. Then it became Spectrum and the message started showing up frequently. (Happy to say I've had zero messages since I cut the cable last November. ) I expect the OP is stuck with this because WAVE has put too large a fraction of their popular channels on SDV.


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## mbernste (Apr 6, 2003)

I used a TA for years on Optimum. Other than a lot of pain getting the TA to work (I was like the first person in their footprint to need one), I never encountered this problem. Thankfully Verizon decided to resume FiOS expansion and about a year ago I was able to switch. Needless to say, the folks at Altice were a little surprised to see a TA returned to them since at that time, they had stopped using them.


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