# Channel temporarily unavailable



## marty2k (Apr 16, 2011)

I just joined this site and need some help.

As I am watching a show the screen goes blank and I get a message "Channel temporarily unavailable, press select to try again". This also happens often when changing channels.

I have "Time Warner Cable" with a cable card and tuner.

The last couple of days it is happening much more often.

My cable company is sending someone out in a few days and I am wondering if I can suggest what is causing the problem.

Thank you
Marty


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## jrm01 (Oct 17, 2003)

By "a tuner" do you mean a Tuning Adaptor that TW provides in some areas? If so, the problem is probably with that device.


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## marty2k (Apr 16, 2011)

Thanks for your response.
Yes, it is a TW tuning adapter. One other note. I was going through channel display and checking channl strength and a message popped up saying something like "No signal found on tuner 1". This happened once. couldn't recreate message. Strenth of all channels I checked was around 90.


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## Stuxnet (Feb 9, 2011)

marty2k said:


> I just joined this site and need some help.
> 
> As I am watching a show the screen goes blank and I get a message "Channel temporarily unavailable, press select to try again". This also happens often when changing channels. Marty


This happened to me about a month ago w/Charter... after calling in, they "hit" my card and everything came back again. I'm also using a TA. Hopefully they'll send someone out who is familiar with Tivo and TAs.


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## Dr_Diablo (Nov 24, 2003)

I get that nag screen often, so I switch to the next channel an then back, then nag screen goes away


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## mistakite (Nov 13, 2010)

marty2k said:


> As I am watching a show the screen goes blank and I get a message "Channel temporarily unavailable, press select to try again". This also happens often when changing channels.


The way my Charter installer explained it, the cable company has nodes throughout the city/town and will turn off certain channels in the nodes that are not in use (something to do with switched digital video). Sometimes when I first tune to a as-of-then-unused channel (more often then not it is late at night) I get that message. The installer suspected there was a problem with my Tivo in that it didn't give the cable provider enough time to turn the channel on.

I know this isn't exactly the problem you described, but it sounds slightly similar and might be a signal issue...


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## Dr_Diablo (Nov 24, 2003)

I'd report the problem all the same, afterallu r payin for a service you aren't getting...

Problems is, these cable companies "farm out" their techies to sub contractors whom have had little or no training on Tivo's what-so-ever...

To bad we can't just pay for the service we receive only when it works properly, we'f be gettin a refund each month////


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## dizneykev (May 9, 2002)

I can tell you that I have had this issue since October of this year. I have had EVERYTHING done. We have re-run new drops from the street to my house, run via an amp, without an amp, ran new home runs to each TiVo. Replaced cable cards and tuning adapters. Still have the issue. I have had Time Warner credit my account over $300 since October for the service outages. The problem is definitely with the head end computers. If re-sending a HIT to the cable cards/tuning adapters fixes the issue, then their problem is on their side. If I could get someone to give me the right price for the Time Warner DVR, I would dump TiVO right now.

Dizneykev


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## Killerbones (Feb 27, 2007)

I also have TW for tampabay and have also had nothing but issues since october of last year., I have had all new lines installed from the street side as well., Replaced DVRS replaced CC Replaced Tuning adapaters, its definetly something on the head end and everyones scratching their heads trying to figure it out. It has gotten better since february where I would have to unplug and plug in everything daily now I just lose some SDV channels.


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## MrJedi (Apr 13, 2011)

I have this issue as well on TWC KC. I usually just do channel up then channel down to fix. Thankfully it is never affected anything I was trying to record.


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## rcobourn (Nov 10, 2004)

Here is what I got out an explanation I received about this:

If the channel you get this message for is an SDV channel, the message likely means that all the bandwidth for SDV channels is allocated. This is most likely to happen when scanning through SDV channels, as each one you scan to requires an allocation, which it might not release immediately when switched away from.

It is a lot like requesting IP addresses from a DHCP server... but with much shorter lease times, and a limited pool of addresses compared to machines requesting them.

It's probably a good idea to complain about it if you see it often; it's probably the only thing that will cause them to allocate more channel space for the SDV channels.


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## eddieb187 (Jan 17, 2009)

Marty,
I live in upstate NY and have Time Warner Cable.
I have a similar issue. I will get a small box that says "Channel Temporarily Unavailable" or "Problem with the Signal on this Channel". The screen just goes blank.
This occurs sometimes while I'm watching a movie. Mainly with the Premium HD Channels. Sometimes it happens when I first tune to a channel. Change channels and come back usually works, but sometimes not. Several times recently I was watching an HD movie and the screen goes blank and I cannot get the movie back for 10 or 15 minutes. I called and was told there are signal problems in my area and they are working on it. I think this is an SDV headend issue. Has been a couple of months now. Hope they can fix it soon. PITA when you're watching a movie.


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## Stuxnet (Feb 9, 2011)

rcobourn said:


> If the channel you get this message for is an SDV channel, the message likely means that all the bandwidth for SDV channels is allocated. This is most likely to happen when scanning through SDV channels, as each one you scan to requires an allocation, which it might not release immediately when switched away from.


Here's an illustration... hopefully I've misunderstood what you said...  Let's say that Charter allocates sufficient bandwidth for 8 SDV channels... out of 16 SDV channels they carry... So they are assuming that no more than 8 individual channels will be requested at any one time... Yes? So if my neighbors accumulatively are tuned into 8 different SDV channels, and I try to select a ninth SDV channel, I'll get "no signal" until one of the eight positions clears... Is that what they're saying to you?


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## kturcotte (Dec 9, 2002)

Stuxnet said:


> Here's an illustration... hopefully I've misunderstood what you said...  Let's say that Charter allocates sufficient bandwidth for 8 SDV channels... out of 16 SDV channels they carry... So they are assuming that no more than 8 individual channels will be requested at any one time... Yes? So if my neighbors accumulatively are tuned into 8 different SDV channels, and I try to select a ninth SDV channel, I'll get "no signal" until one of the eight positions clears... Is that what they're saying to you?


So basically it's possible that ALL SDV channels may not be available at the same time? If so, that's STUPID and WRONG as far as I'm concerned. I can't watch the channel I want because the neighbors are already using all the bandwidth? Sounds like UVerse where they limit the amount of HD channels you can view at once (Per account, not per box).
I've seen this before too. Even happens on the TW boxes themselves (My Grandmother uses them), so it's NOT a Tivo problem. Her's will sometimes go out every minute or so while she's watching. Not sure what's up with that.


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## sdnative1 (Mar 7, 2009)

I see this message here in San Diego (Cox Cable) usually when I come home from work and the next morning after waking up. Tuning adapter is a Cisco. If it affected recordings, I would have more of a problem with it. For now, it's just a inconvenience that those who don't have the crappy cable company box shouldn't have to put up with.


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## Mike-Wolf (Feb 25, 2013)

kturcotte said:


> So basically it's possible that ALL SDV channels may not be available at the same time? If so, that's STUPID and WRONG as far as I'm concerned. I can't watch the channel I want because the neighbors are already using all the bandwidth? Sounds like UVerse where they limit the amount of HD channels you can view at once (Per account, not per box).
> I've seen this before too. Even happens on the TW boxes themselves (My Grandmother uses them), so it's NOT a Tivo problem. Her's will sometimes go out every minute or so while she's watching. Not sure what's up with that.


This is why I avoid those cable providers and treat them like a flesh eating virus that forces switched digital video on their customers, like the homicide-inducing WMD that it is. It's a lazy and ineffective way to get bandwidth without the techs actually getting rid of analog signals or other bandwidth hogging practices for digital and not bumping frequencies to 1GHz.


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## rmoffitt (Aug 17, 2013)

I've been getting this message often lately, I think I found a workaround. Maybe it will work for you. The downside is it interrupts any currently recording programs.

Go to:
Messages & Settings > Settings > Remote, CableCARD, & Devices > Tuning Adapter > Test Channels using CableCARD 1

Browse to the channel that was previously unavailable via this testing interface and it should start working again.

For some reason, channels that haven't been working all day started waking up after browsing to them with the above method.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

rmoffitt said:


> I've been getting this message often lately, I think I found a workaround. Maybe it will work for you. The downside is it interrupts any currently recording programs.
> 
> Go to:
> Messages & Settings > Settings > Remote, CableCARD, & Devices > Tuning Adapter > Test Channels using CableCARD 1
> ...


My work around is to change channels TWICE on that same tuner and THEN come back to it. Works like a charm.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

This should not happen at all. We should not be putting up with this. What if are recording something and the Tivo does not tune? It has happened to me several time. It happened today with Breaking Bad


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## Tony Chick (Jun 20, 2002)

The thing is, if they could deliver all of the SDV channels at the same time then they wouldn't need SDV. They use it because there isn't enough bandwidth on the cable for all the channels they provide, so they gamble on not all the channels being needed at the same time, and as with all gambling sometimes they lose.


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