# Problem with the signal on this cable channel, Trying Again. . . Or is it?



## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

I'd say on average about 1 of 20 recordings on each of my 2 Premiere get the error: "Problem with the signal on this cable channel, Trying Again." The only way I would know this is to catch it happening live because otherwise when this happens I would have to notice the show was missing and check the recording history to find out why it wasn't recorded. Otherwise the show would go in to oblivion and I would never know it didn't record. At least on the Series 2 if a signal wasn't present Tivo would just record whatever was being broadcast even if it was a blank screen. If it truly were a signal issue then eventually you might even get part of the show once the signal returned. At least there was a "place holder" of sorts for the show. I'd say it was very rare to miss a show because of the Series 2 however. But what I'm really wondering is if there is really is a problem with the signal and is Tivo Premiere really "Trying Again?" Every single time I have caught this happening and stopped the recording it is instantly able to tune in the very same channel it says there was no signal on and "Trying Again" for and at the same time is usually recording a second show without issue.

Does anyone else notice this as a frequent problem with your Premiere? I have called Tivo about this and they want to blame the cable company, cableCARD, and TA. OK, fine I can accept MAYBE when Tivo starts to record every so often there is a problem with the signal. But never once since I've had Premiere in July have I seen either one of them actually "try again" and acquire the signal and %100 of the time when I stopped the recording the signal was just fine and it instantly tuned in the channel. This means the potential for Premiere to record the channel is indeed there. It doesn't seem to be able to "try again" at all. This is my number one peeve with Tivo Premiere because it causes shows to be missed entirely if not caught in time or if the same show is not rebroadcast. It really can suck to see the red LED light(s) on thinking it is recording your show then you can't even find it in the My Shows list. I could almost forgive all the other problems with Premiere if this one issue were resolved. Suggestions?


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## kg4cna (Oct 15, 2010)

Yep, I got that very thing tonight. Wife was watching TV with the new Premiere and the screen just went black and the "Searching for signal on this cable channel" message came up....and stayed. Checked the TV in the other room and cable was fine. Tried everything to get it back but nothing worked. Had to power-cycle the unit. Came back up to a gray screen that looked like "frozen static/snow". After a couple of minutes, the Tivo Central screen came up (using HD menus) and it was frozen. The live TV picture in the upper right was working....but NO response to the remote control at all. Waited awhile to see if it would come back...but it never did. This Premiere has been out of the box barely 24 hours. Needless to say, I will be calling Tivo tomorrow to see about returning this one.

I still have the Series 2 Tivo that the Premiere was going to replace. It's back in it's place now and working flawlessly. I may forgo the Premiere and just keep the S2 until the bugs get worked out.

**This Premiere had upgraded itself to the latest software.

Allen


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## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

I don't think we're having the same issue just the same symptoms. Sounds like you got a lemon. Mine works for the most part except when I get that error. Your issue sounds much worse.


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## dr_mal (Mar 21, 2001)

I know this is an old thread, but wondering if you were ever able to resolve your issue. I'm having the same issue with "Problem with the signal on this cable channel" every day or two. I've had the generally-helpful people at my cable company (BVU Optinet) re-pair the CableCard to the Premiere, to no avail. I've tried swapping it and my Series 3 to different locations to see if maybe it was a bad cable run or something, but the Premiere has the same issues no matter which cable run it uses (what room it's in) while the S3 has no issues no matter where it is.

If I pull the CableCard and reinsert, the channel will come in immediately, so it can't be a signal strength issue (and like rahnbo said, if it really was "trying again" wouldn't it be able to recover like it does when I reinsert the CableCard?)

This is driving me nuts. Had TiVo hardware for going on 11 years and this is the first time I've been unable to rely on it.


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## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

dr_mal said:


> I know this is an old thread, but wondering if you were ever able to resolve your issue. I'm having the same issue with "Problem with the signal on this cable channel" every day or two.


Nope. Just like many other problems I've had with Premiere this one never went away and Tivo wants to blame it on everything under the sun except. . . Tivo. Just tonight I checked if Torchwood was recording about 1/2 way in. Nope. Tivo was "Trying Again." Sure it was. Ran upstairs to check the other Premiere and the same channel tuned in fine. Fired up the STB and that channel came in just as well. Then on the problem Premiere simply moved channel down/channel up and there was the signal for Torchwood. I never would blame Tivo if there really was no signal due to whatever reason but the fact that it NEVER "Tries again" is the most frustrating part. I don't think the Premiere even has that capability so basically its a lie.


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## danjw1 (Sep 13, 2005)

You might want to consider trying an amplifier on the cable line. I don't know how many leads you have or if they are split at all within you residence. You should also look at the "Signal Strength" and "SNR" (Signal to Noise Ratio) on the tuners, higher is better on both. It is on the Messages & Settings-> Account & System Information->DVR Diagnostics page. At least that is where it is on my Tivo HD. There is some talk on this thread about similar issues.


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## PedjaR (Jan 4, 2010)

I had a very similar type of problem - same no signal issue, and if you catch it and hit channel up/down, it would work; the difference is for me it used to happen only when I had two recordings at the same time, at least one of which was on an SDV channel. The red light would be on, but there would be only black screen on and some message about not getting a signal or not being able to tune. If I left it alone, after the time the recording was scheduled to stop, the recording would just dissapear, and the Recording History would show some generic "signal was not available" message. If I stopped the recording and hit channel up/down the channel would normally tune. 

This started after several months of using Tivo with no such problems, about the same time I switched to HD menus (to avoid "stop responding to remote" bug). Anyway, I blamed it on Tivo and HDUI for a while, and was not too peeved since the recording missed were only on cable channels that would repeat those shows. After a while and I decided to exchange the tuning adapter (I was reluctant as this was my second TA; the one I initially had would quit every few days and neeed a manual reboot, and this one did not give me any trouble for months). Anyway, that seems to have cured the problem - no such issues so far (a few weeks) with the new TA (same brand as the old one). While this does not completely prove it is TA's fault, if I were you I'd ask to have it exchanged anyway and see what happens. My guess is that when TA is flaky a bit, Tivo does not handle it properly, hence missed recordings, so you are best of exchanging until you get a solid one. And, if my experience is any indicator, TAs can go flaky after months of reliablility.


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## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

PedjaR said:


> While this does not completely prove it is TA's fault, if I were you I'd ask to have it exchanged anyway and see what happens. My guess is that when TA is flaky a bit, Tivo does not handle it properly, hence missed recordings, so you are best of exchanging until you get a solid one. And, if my experience is any indicator, TAs can go flaky after months of reliablility.


Thanks, hope it keeps working for you! I wouldn't disagree the TA probably has something to do with it and probably even initiates the issue. I have two of them and getting both replaced, dealing with Brighthouse, etc. would be more trouble than it is worth. Fact is if I can "fix" it by flipping channels then there is no reason Tivo can't handle the problem itself. I'm more miffed at the fact the Premiere is claiming it is "trying again" but never actually does anything. If it did, it would obtain a signal just like we do when we flip the channel back and forth. It's like it just decides at record time, "well, there is low/no signal so screw it."


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## poe95757 (Jul 8, 2011)

it has something to do with your wireless adapter strength. According to tivo rep, you need to have 80 (excellent) else every once awhile you will get "signal not available" but it will be self-fix less than 1 minute... 
best method.. put your wifi router higher and your tivi wireless adapter NOT next to your tivo power supply area..

hope this helps..


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

dr_mal said:


> I know this is an old thread, but wondering if you were ever able to resolve your issue. I'm having the same issue with "Problem with the signal on this cable channel" every day or two.


I'm OTA only. One PBS station I receive is a translator which rebroadcasts locally a feed from a main station that is too far away for local residents to receive reliably. When I see "Problem with the signal on this channel. Trying Again." (or whatever the exact wording is) that means that the local transmitter is operating, but there is no transport stream, probably because the main transmitter is down. I'm not sure exactly what TiVo is "Trying again." I'm also not quite sure what this means in a cable context, but if you use a tuning adapter or a cable card, I suspect that no transport stream is being received from that device by the TiVo's tuner.


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## WhenenRome (Nov 13, 2010)

poe95757 said:


> it has something to do with your wireless adapter strength. According to tivo rep, you need to have 80 (excellent) else every once awhile you will get "signal not available" but it will be self-fix less than 1 minute...
> best method.. put your wifi router higher and your tivi wireless adapter NOT next to your tivo power supply area..


Okay, I'm having the same problem... it always happens with recording on a particular channel (BBC America, which is Digital / SD on Charter). I've even caught it in the act, so to speak. If I don't catch it, the recording will be "partial."

But I want to ask those of you who might be more-informed out there. What would the Wireless Adapter have to do with this problem (as the TiVo rep apparently told the poster quoted above)? One would normally think this were an issue of cable signal / tuning adapter / and-or Tivo box communication. The WA seems like it would be a totally unrelated issue.

But I ask because my wireless adapter's signal strength typically hovers lower than 80%, and I have the same problem being described here. It happens quite a bit - and of course my first inclination is to blame the TA.


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## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

poe95757 said:


> it has something to do with your wireless adapter strength. According to tivo rep, you need to have 80 (excellent) else every once awhile you will get "signal not available" but it will be self-fix less than 1 minute...
> best method.. put your wifi router higher and your tivi wireless adapter NOT next to your tivo power supply area..
> 
> hope this helps..


The wireless strength has nothing to do with this issue. Most likely they were telling you about the cable signal strength. Mine is hard wired anyway. As far as cable signal I don't buy that theory (from Tivo) because again as many people have mentioned when you "catch it in the act" you can check the signal and it's fine plus you can manually tune in the channel yourself.


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## poe95757 (Jul 8, 2011)

rahnbo said:


> The wireless strength has nothing to do with this issue. Most likely they were telling you about the cable signal strength. Mine is hard wired anyway. As far as cable signal I don't buy that theory (from Tivo) because again as many people have mentioned when you "catch it in the act" you can check the signal and it's fine plus you can manually tune in the channel yourself.


I agreed with you. that is what the TIVO rep told me.. I used to have ~60 (marginal) and I have a lot of connection lost while I am using the HD menu (those little advertised icons are replace with ! lost connection). but it is back in less than 1 minute. So I called TIVO, a lady rep told that keep your signal strength above 80. so I did put my router higher and my wireless adapter more to the open area. now I am getting between (78-86 excellent). since then 1month ago, only have 1 lost connection(catch on the act while TV is on), the signal that time was 76.


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## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

poe95757 said:


> I agreed with you. that is what the TIVO rep told me.. I used to have ~60 (marginal) and I have a lot of connection lost while I am using the HD menu (those little advertised icons are replace with ! lost connection). but it is back in less than 1 minute. So I called TIVO, a lady rep told that keep your signal strength above 80. so I did put my router higher and my wireless adapter more to the open area. now I am getting between (78-86 excellent). since then 1month ago, only have 1 lost connection(catch on the act while TV is on), the signal that time was 76.


I see. It appears what you're talking about is the HDUI and it's silly dependence on a reliable wired or wireless network connection. This thread concerns the SDUI or HDUI and cable TV video signals.


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## Francorosso (Feb 8, 2002)

Just hooked up my new Premiere yesterday, watched TV all day and last night, then forced software upgrade which caused me to get this "problem with the signal" on all my channels. No wireless in this system, about ten feet from the router, never ever had a signal problem with Fios, and I checked the signal strength (73).
So, bottom line is that I can't have an unreliable TV system in the house. I'll call TiVo today and give them a shot at fixing it but chances are all three Tivo's (two unopened) will go right back to Best Buy......


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

Francorosso said:


> Just hooked up my new Premiere yesterday, watched TV all day and last night, then forced software upgrade which caused me to get this "problem with the signal" on all my channels. No wireless in this system, about ten feet from the router, never ever had a signal problem with Fios, and I checked the signal strength (73).
> So, bottom line is that I can't have an unreliable TV system in the house. I'll call TiVo today and give them a shot at fixing it but chances are all three Tivo's (two unopened) will go right back to Best Buy......


I believe that message means that the TiVo is not receiving a transport stream (video data) from whatever should be supplying it. If it worked before you did a software upgrade, maybe something needs to be re-paired or reauthorized or reprovisioned or re-something. I would tend to point the finger of blame at the cable company, not the hardware. I assume you have rebooted everything.


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## Francorosso (Feb 8, 2002)

It fixed itself.............


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

It does try again - typical when signal strength is too low. See what DVR diags show on the channels in question. you want to see it up in the 80's. If it's down in the 40's or so, you signal may have been split too many times before getting to the TiVo.


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## rahnbo (Sep 12, 2010)

jfh3 said:


> It does try again - typical when signal strength is too low. See what DVR diags show on the channels in question. you want to see it up in the 80's. If it's down in the 40's or so, you signal may have been split too many times before getting to the TiVo.


I don't think it does. If I'm able to simply flip the channel back and forth or switch to the 2nd tuner to tune in the channel it claims to be trying again and successfully tune it in, then it is not trying anything.


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