# Roamio Plus - All tuners on same channel



## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

Any idea why this morning, all 6 tuners on my Roamio Plus were tuned to the same channel?

It didn't reboot overnight as far as I know....the DVR Diagnostics Cable Card Time since OOB tune start was 146000 seconds.

-Kevin


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Do you record suggestions? That will also cause all tuners to be on the same channel.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> Do you record suggestions? That will also cause all tuners to be on the same channel.


Yes I do record suggestions. Ah, so this will reset all tuners?

-Kevin


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

kbmb said:


> Yes I do record suggestions. Ah, so this will reset all tuners?
> 
> -Kevin


Someone else posted in another thread that when the suggestion is finished recording, it puts the tuner on the last channel you had it on. So if suggestions are recording on all six tuners, they will end up on the same channel.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> Someone else posted in another thread that when the suggestion is finished recording, it puts the tuner on the last channel you had it on. So if suggestions are recording on all six tuners, they will end up on the same channel.


Interesting. Thanks for the info. I'll have to watch and see what it continues to do. Weird thing was the channel it had all the tuners on, I wasn't watching....it's a low def sundance channel.

I more just wanted to make sure it didn't reboot.....and the diagnostics info seems to confirm that.

-Kevin


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## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

I've seen as many as 3 tuners tuned to the same channel but not recording.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

markp99 said:


> I've seen as many as 3 tuners tuned to the same channel but not recording.


Yeah, none were recording this morning....all just tuned to 201.

-Kevin


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## anthonymoody (Apr 29, 2008)

Funny this is what was happening with me yesterday though I'm pretty sure I told it not to record suggestions. I created another thread about switching bt 2 channels but not getting any buffer. Turns out TiVo was using a single tuner bt the 2 channels. Every other tuner was on the same channel, one that I watch but not one that was recording. And like I said I'm pretty sure I set it not to record suggestions. Hmm. I will double check that.

Okay: Confirmed I am not recording suggestions. 

I find this default behavior - where it uses one tuner to change channels unless the other channel you're going to is already on another tuner - bassackwards. 

IMO, it should use all tuners that are not otherwise recording something you've specified to change channels. It should do so FIFO style sequentially. 

So for example, if you're not recording anything, you should be able to change to six different channels before losing a buffer on any of them. On the 7th channel change, if to a 7th channel, the very first channel you tuned would drop off the list, replaced by the 7th. 

I guess (hope?) some thought was given to this by TiVo and that there is some logic to the default they set, but I can't figure it.


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## LionelHutz590 (Jul 25, 2014)

I just upgraded to the Roamio Plus and have noticed the same issue. I'm not recording suggestions either. Anyone heard any info on this?


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Are you sure your TiVo didn't reboot? With or without suggestions, the only time I see all tuners on the same channel is after a reboot. Perhaps you received the summer update 20.4.2.


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## mwacosta (Nov 27, 2006)

I found the tuners on my Roamio all tuned to the same channel at least three times since the upgrade to 20.4.2. I don't record suggestions so I don't really see this happen unless the Roamio reboots. I've never seen this many reboots in such a short period of time for any previous versions of the software. It's probably a bug in 20.4.2.


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## kbmb (Jun 22, 2004)

For anyone wondering if the Roamio rebooted, just go into the DVR diagnostics and check the Time Since OOB Tune Start, it'll be in seconds and can give you a good idea on if it rebooted itself.

I still get this behavior on both Tivos, but I do have suggestions turned on. I was diagnosing another issue recently where I turned suggestions off, and the channel didn't auto change then.

-Kevin


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

I do have suggestions turned on, even though I effectively never watch them.. Even _with_ a free space meter nowadays, I just can't quite give up the extra bit of info that "it's recording suggestions, so it really thinks there is free space".. (If we could power DOWN a tivo that wasn't recording _my_ shows, then I would gladly give up suggestions... but it's on already..)

Anyway, yeah, I notice this.. The only times I regularly use live TV buffering is for CNN and sometimes CSPAN (as a backup when CNN has lame shows on), to listen to as background noise.. and in the morning I VERY often find MANY if not all tuners on CNN or CSPAN.


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## LionelHutz590 (Jul 25, 2014)

kbmb said:


> For anyone wondering if the Roamio rebooted, just go into the DVR diagnostics and check the Time Since OOB Tune Start, it'll be in seconds and can give you a good idea on if it rebooted itself.
> 
> I still get this behavior on both Tivos, but I do have suggestions turned on. I was diagnosing another issue recently where I turned suggestions off, and the channel didn't auto change then.
> 
> -Kevin


Checked that and it says it was about 3 hours ago (10,885 seconds). Also checked software version and it's only saying 20.4.1.


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## Ben_Jamin75 (Dec 18, 2003)

I always thought this was tivo's way of reducing hard drive wear and tear etc.
Normally all 4 (or 6) tuners are actively tuned, sending four (or six) streams to the hard drive to buffer. If all of the tuners are set the the same channel, I would assume it is only maintaining one buffer.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Nope, it's definitely a separate buffer.. or at least it *CAN* be a separate buffer.. I have had CNN starting at 8:00 on one tuner, and go back to (made up #) 7:42 on another tuner.. It changed channels after a different recording finished.

(I give the "or at least it *CAN*" case, since I could IMAGINE them doing enough work to make this work.. but it seems very hard to get all of the edge cases, like I mentioned, to work properly... If they really wanted to reduce hard drive wear and tear, they'd let me turn off recording when I wasn't actively recording -- my ~10+ year old hard drive/dvd recorder does that.)


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## LoveGardenia (Apr 24, 2015)

I know this is an old thread. I have a Roamio Plus which I got Monday. It's doing the same thing as the OP stated about his. I just want to know if this is a normal behavior after 2 years. I have the latest software update 20.5. It just started this Friday and I notice a freeze while watching a live show which doesn't happen often just random.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

LoveGardenia said:


> I know this is an old thread. I have a Roamio Plus which I got Monday. It's doing the same thing as the OP stated about his. I just want to know if this is a normal behavior after 2 years. I have the latest software update 20.5. It just started this Friday and I notice a freeze while watching a live show which doesn't happen often just random.


"Live" TV is still you watching a disk buffer. That's why pause works. If you are also having the OP issue of all tuners on the same channel, that can not be done manually. You might know if there was a power outage. You can also have this happened after a manual restart and other diagnostic. Again you would cause this. Check the TiVo box Diagnostics, near the end under cable card, for Time Since OOB Tune Start. Each tuner has its own time also.

Possible a bad HDD? I hope not.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

JoeKustra said:


> "Live" TV is still you watching a disk buffer. That's why pause works. If you are also having the OP issue of all tuners on the same channel, that can not be done manually. You might know if there was a power outage. You can also have this happened after a manual restart and other diagnostic. Again you would cause this. Check the TiVo box Diagnostics, near the end under cable card, for Time Since OOB Tune Start. Each tuner has its own time also.
> 
> Possible a bad HDD? I hope not.


I have a Plus that routinely does the same thing, I've checked and it's not rebooting, it's weird but apparently common.


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## LoveGardenia (Apr 24, 2015)

My box hasn't rebooted for over 500 minutes. 3 tuners on the same channel. 2 tuners on same channel, one of those tuners is doing a recording which I setup. The other tuner is on a different channel. There's been 2 suggestion recordings in the past 10 hrs. on different channels. I have to wonder if this is normal. The reason for stating normal is this: since midnight I have had 3 suggestions recorded on the same channel hence the 3 tuners on the same channel. The 2 tuners on the same channel is I had a suggestion recorded on that station Friday night and I setup a recording Tuesday night for today on that station.
Another possibility, if I set up recordings for a certain movie or tv shows on a certain channel, TiVo will go through the guide for that station of upcoming shows and record a suggestion based on what I like by my recordings and watching (thumbs up or down) hence the tuners on the same station doing random suggestions.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

It is possible to have three tuners on one channel by a combination of ending late, starting early, and a normal recording on the same channel. Three yes, four I can't figure out. It also assumes overlap protection is ignored (I think). I've never tried that.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but there is no harm to having all tuners on the same channel.


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## LoveGardenia (Apr 24, 2015)

All help is greatly appreciated. No offense to any responses or comments unless it's a personal attack. I'm always lurking on this forum to learn which I have been doing for almost 15 yrs.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

LoveGardenia said:


> All help is greatly appreciated. No offense to any responses or comments unless it's a personal attack. I'm always lurking on this forum to learn which I have been doing for almost 15 yrs.


Just take it as some units do this and for no obvious reason, I routinely find my Plus with one tuner on the channel it last recorded something on and the other 5 tuners all on some weird infomercial channel. Worth noting my Pro NEVER does this, the one unit seems to be more prone to it for no obvious reason other than it has fewer 1Ps on it.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

I have the on-screen clock enabled on my Roamio Plus and Minis, and I can instantly tell if any have rebooted - the clock disappears.

For those who would like to see the clock, the easiest way to enable it is to be playing back a recording, and quickly push Select-Play-Select-9-Select. Same sequence will turn it off.


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