# Charter / Spectrum With Tivo Bolt



## Johnny Dancing

Moved to a new home with only Charter Spectrum available and I can no longer have Directv because too many trees around my house. 

Rather, then use the Spectrum bad DVR I decided to go back to TiVo. I have the Bolt and a Bolt Mini.

Ordered a cable card, and spectrum sent a motorola card. I installed and it seems to work but no signal on any of the Pay channels. I can connect to the spectrum app on my Roku and I get all the channels there. Anyway, a service call is scheduled tomorrow. I am just thinking he will say those channels won't work with Tivo. Also, strangely, all the SD channels don't come in and are all pixelated with a very weak signal.

Any tips pre service guy?

Also, is the Tivo Bolt able to get spectrum on demand channels? If so, how? During the move we have been disconnected for a few weeks and I wanted to catch up on Better Call Saul and Fear the walking dead, but could not see a way to pull in their on-demand channels other then through the spectrum Roku app on my secondary TV. This is something I would not normally need but there are about 2 or 3 weeks of shows I would like to watch without downloading or streaming.


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## JoeKustra

Johnny Dancing said:


> Ordered a cable card, and spectrum sent a motorola card. I installed and it seems to work but no signal on any of the Pay channels. I can connect to the spectrum app on my Roku and I get all the channels there. Anyway, a service call is scheduled tomorrow. I am just thinking he will say those channels won't work with Tivo.


Starting simple: did you get the cable card paired?

Item to check is Val: V and a VCT ID greater than zero. This is my Conditional Access display:







My Diagnostics display about the cable card:








On my premium channels I get a message that it is not authorized, not that the signal is missing. I don't have Spectrum, but it sounds like your card isn't paired.

BTW, I think Showtime is clear all weekend starting tomorrow.


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## MBorland

Johnny Dancing said:


> Moved to a new home with only Charter Spectrum available and I can no longer have Directv because too many trees around my house.
> 
> Ordered a cable card, and spectrum sent a motorola card. I installed and it seems to work but no signal on any of the Pay channels.


 Ditto on the pairing portion. You don't mention calling in to do it, which is required. 
Also, not sure where you are, but in WI we have Switched Digital Video, which requires another addon box. It's free, but without it you wont get much.


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## Johnny Dancing

Yeah, I called in to pair card. 

I get numbers on diagnostics screens.

Cable Gal is here and knows nothing about cable cards or Tivo. Trying a tuning adapter but it is flashing yellow for 20 minutes now.


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## MBorland

Well, I don't want to tell the cable gal what to do, but... I did do both my installs on my own.
Cable coming in has to split, one leg to TA, one to Tivo. Can't use the split built into the TA. Dunno why, that's what I was told. Then USB from TA to Tivo
Really sounds like you need to request a different installer.


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## Johnny Dancing

Tuning adapter message from tivo, says it does not support 6 tuners....

I'll tell her about the split.


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## Johnny Dancing

The split to the tuning adapter and TiVo was correct. She told her support person online that the TiVo was giving a message that the tuning adapter was not 6 tuner capable so they are doing a firmware update on the tuning adapter that takes 45 minutes to 2 hours. 

tuning adapter is flashing yellow she said when it's good to go it will be a solid yellow light which seems weird I would think it would be a solid green light but what do I know. it is a Motorola tuning adapter with a Motorola CableCARD in the TiVo.

She left and may come back later today but I think you are right I need a more experienced cable person out here.


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## Johnny Dancing

JoeKustra said:


> Starting simple: did you get the cable card paired?
> 
> Item to check is Val: V and a VCT ID greater than zero. This is my Conditional Access display:


I found the VCD ID in diagnostics and it shows only a "-" no number.

I really think it is a pairing problem, not sure if I even need a tuning adapter. It is still flashing yellow.


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## Johnny Dancing

MBorland said:


> Well, I don't want to tell the cable gal what to do, but... I did do both my installs on my own.
> Cable coming in has to split, one leg to TA, one to Tivo. Can't use the split built into the TA. Dunno why, that's what I was told. Then USB from TA to Tivo
> Really sounds like you need to request a different installer.


Motorola tuning adapter still blinking yellow. Looking at the connections she did - Cable into splitter, then one line to OUT on Tuning adapter and the other to the IN on the Tivo Bolt. USB connecting them both together.

Intuitively, it seems that the cable should go to the IN on the tuning adapter, but I assume someone told here how to hook it up properly and the USB handles the communication.

VCD ID does have a valid code on the conditional access display on certain channels, In diagnosis I get the "-" for VCD ID

I found this page and it seems codes are correct https://support.tivo.com/articles/Troubleshooting/CableCARD-MMI-Screen-Information

Still I am thinking there is a glitch in the pairing, but they refused to try Re-Pairing it for her while she was here.

Lots of one on the auto charter service call survey.


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## JoeKustra

Johnny Dancing said:


> VCD ID does have a valid code on the conditional access display on certain channels, In diagnosis I get the "-" for VCD ID


Please don't place too much on that number. It could be your cable feed doesn't care. I would never have know about it if it wasn't that my headend changed during a rebuild of my network. BTW, I don't have any faith in TiVo's diagnostics. In Diagnostics you will never see "Paired:" to be Yes.


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## Johnny Dancing

Cable gal just call to see if is working and I mentioned that the cable was going to the out on the tuning adaptor. She apologized and said it should go to the in. I switched and we'll see if the yellow light stops blinking. Still don't have my hopes up.


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## mdavej

What do you see for "Val:" on the Conditional Access screen? If you see 0x00, then it's not actually paired. If you see any other number then it is paired. Solid yellow on TA is good, blinking is bad.

I've paired Moto cards and TA's on Charter at least 20 times in the past several years. Most of the pairing issues I've had are due to the person sending the hits not asking for or wrongly entering Host ID and/or Data string. TA has always been either TA being removed from my account or disabled on their end.

Hang in there, it will eventually come together when you find a competent Spectrum person.


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## JoeKustra

mdavej said:


> What do you see for "Val:" on the Conditional Access screen? If you see 0x00, then it's not actually paired. If you see any other number then it is paired.


While it's true that the number following Val: will be non-zero for a paired card, it's the "V" that indicates pairing. The number is the number of times the card has been paired.


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## Johnny Dancing

I had to travel last two days. So I had to put wife in charge. The local supervisor came to the house 3 times twice to try to get the Tivo working and lastly to bring the DVR from the office. He said it must be something wrong with the Tivo since they tried everything.

I am pretty impressed with phone and local customer support. They really did there best to get it working for me, however, I'll be pissed if it turns out to not be a bad brand new Tivo.

I bought direct from Tivo so contacting them now.


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## larryhitz

I found that the Spectrum group for cable card is really good with TIVO support.
Spectrum cable card support group 1-866-532-2598


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## Johnny Dancing

Called TiVo, they insist that Spectrum did not pair the card properly. Tried to do a conference call with Spectrum, got disconnected.

I'll wait until after the holiday weekend to try again. The local supervisor will come buy Tuesday while I try calling Tivo again.


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## mdavej

I agree with TiVo. Incorrect pairing is the problem the vast majority of the time. From what you’ve posted, I’m not convinced it’s paired. Still haven’t seen that V number.


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## sxmfan2018

larryhitz said:


> I found that the Spectrum group for cable card is really good with TIVO support.
> Spectrum cable card support group 1-866-532-2598


I called that number last night and it routed me all over to billing support but no dedicated cable card support


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## mdavej

Legacy Charter has no cable card support number, never has. Only legacy TWC areas still have that.


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## Pete716

mdavej said:


> Legacy Charter has no cable card support number, never has. Only legacy TWC areas still have that.


I'm in a legacy TWC area and that phone number has never worked for me - routes me to regular tech support. However, if I tell them I have a cable card issue, they almost immediately transfer me.


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## Johnny Dancing

Update - the local supervisor came over last Tuesday. We called Tivo first, he explained all we did. The card just would not pair. Finally Tivo relented and sent a replacement.

Received the replacement last Friday. Called charter, had it paired. Now I get 90% of the channels. I have the full package with all the movie channels but only about 1/4 of the movie channels I should get come in.

I am also missing a few random little watched channels like the tennis channel.

Supervisor said he will come by this week to try a different tuning adapter - not much else to try besides that.

The tuning adapter will only do two channels at the same time. My understanding is this would only be and issue if I was watching/recording more than two channels that required a tuning adapter. I believe the tuning adapter on charter only kicks in for the least watched channels. 

If I can't get more of the channels I'll just go to basic and forget the movie channels. The only reason I signed up for the movie channel tier is so I could get the NFL Red Zone (and that did not come in yesterday).

The Charter DVR is horrible. The one they loaned to me has 3 or 4 programs recorded and it is 8% full. Tiny hard drive and horrible interface, plus no mini option. The only good thing about it is that it gets all the channels.


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## mdavej

Yeah, you're still not paired. Please tell us the "V" number in diagnostics that was discussed earlier in the thread. Do you see 0x00 or something else? 

Current firmwares (as in from the past decade) for card and TA handle 6 tuners simultaneously.


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## Johnny Dancing

mdavej said:


> Yeah, you're still not paired. Please tell us the "V" number in diagnostics that was discussed earlier in the thread. Do you see 0x00 or something else?
> 
> Current firmwares (as in from the past decade) for card and TA handle 6 tuners simultaneously.


Apparently, firmware updates automatically when TA is pluged in

V say ? All other things in conditional access are correct according to the motorola card page.

Guy was just here. He brought a list of tuning adapter channels and none come in, all the rest of channels do.

He called in, the tried pinging the TA it would blink red but the light never went solid amber like it should.

Conclusion was probably bad TA. He is going to office to find the newest TA they have on hand.

First a bad Tivo, now a bad TA. What are the chances?


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## mdavej

"V ?" means "not paired" no matter what other data you see. Stress to them that they need to correctly enter the HostID AND Data string on their end, then send a few hits. There is a specific sequence of steps that has to be followed.

Red message light on a ping is a good sign. But the tuning adapter is most likely still "disabled" on their end. They need to check your account to make sure the correct serial number adapter is on your account AND enabled.

They always claim bad TA or bad card. This is almost never actually the case. All they have to do is enter the correct info on their end.


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## sxmfan2018

Johnny Dancing said:


> Tuning adapter message from tivo, says it does not support 6 tuners....
> 
> I'll tell her about the split.


what tuning adapter did they send you??? the sent me an arris wich is not 6 tuner compatible you need the scientific atlanta unit


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## Johnny Dancing

sxmfan2018 said:


> what tuning adapter did they send you??? the sent me an arris wich is not 6 tuner compatible you need the scientific atlanta unit


I have the Arris TA (motorola tuning adapter and motorola cable card)



mdavej said:


> "V ?" means "not paired" no matter what other data you see. Stress to them that they need to correctly enter the HostID AND Data string on their end, then send a few hits. There is a specific sequence of steps that has to be followed.
> 
> Red message light on a ping is a good sign. But the tuning adapter is most likely still "disabled" on their end. They need to check your account to make sure the correct serial number adapter is on your account AND enabled.
> 
> They always claim bad TA or bad card. This is almost never actually the case. All they have to do is enter the correct info on their end.


Supervisor was just here, he tried a third Tuning Adapter, and verified with them all CC and Tuning adapter setting were correct and made sure the CC was link to the TA. He is out of ideas. He said he has seen my set up work at other homes.

When I get a few hours I'll call Tivo support, keep them and charter on the line at the same time and see if Tivo can explain what they should do.

Two tuners capability on TA would only be an issue if you tried to record 3 channels that needed a tuning adapter. Since they are normally the least used channels that require a TA, it rarely would be an issue. My issue is I get no channels that require a TA.


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## mdavej

Current TA's and CC's do 6 tuners at once. Supervisor simply hasn't spoken to a qualified person on the other end of the phone.

Your card is still not paired.

If your TA is still actually connected like this, it's also wrong:


> Looking at the connections she did - Cable into splitter, then one line to OUT on Tuning adapter and the other to the IN on the Tivo Bolt. USB connecting them both together.


The coax from the splitter to the TA must go to the IN. Nothing should be connected to the OUT. The USB is correct. Did you try another USB port like I suggested?

What I would do at this point is just call Charter and keep trying to pair the card and "enable" the TA. If the person on the other end never asks for your "Data" string, that person is clueless. So politely end the call and try the next person. I've been through this at least a couple dozen times with Charter over the years. It was ALWAYS a setting missed on their end, NEVER a bad TA or CC.


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## Johnny Dancing

mdavej said:


> Current TA's and CC's do 6 tuners at once. Supervisor simply hasn't spoken to a qualified person on the other end of the phone.
> 
> Your card is still not paired.
> 
> If your TA is still actually connected like this, it's also wrong:
> The coax from the splitter to the TA must go to the IN. Nothing should be connected to the OUT. The USB is correct. Did you try another USB port like I suggested?
> 
> What I would do at this point is just call Charter and keep trying to pair the card and "enable" the TA. If the person on the other end never asks for your "Data" string, that person is clueless. So politely end the call and try the next person. I've been through this at least a couple dozen times with Charter over the years. It was ALWAYS a setting missed on their end, NEVER a bad TA or CC.


I fixed the connections to the tuning adaptor way in the beginning of this mess. The plan is to get Tivo Support on the phone with Charter on a three way conference call and have them try to explain what to do. Problem with calling support is in my basement there is barely a cell signal so I get disconnected and my wifi calling is wonky (another tech problem I need to tackle) so I set up my office phone land line down there so I get a stable phone call.

My Val is '?' which apparently means card is not paired. But if it is not paired, how do I get all the channels except those channels that require a tuning adapter? Is it possible to have a card partially paired?


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## mdavej

It was paired with something at some point, perhaps before you ever installed it. But now that it isn't paired, within 24 to 48 hours, all your channels will go away.


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## Johnny Dancing

mdavej said:


> It was paired with something at some point, perhaps before you ever installed it. But now that it isn't paired, within 24 to 48 hours, all your channels will go away.


It has been working partially since either Friday or Saturday when I got the replacement TiVo. I called that day, they "paired" the card to the replacement Tivo and I have been getting all the channels except those that require a tuning adapter since then - 4 or 5 days.


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## mdavej

I can't explain that unless the diagnostics are wrong.


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## JoeKustra

Johnny Dancing said:


> It has been working partially since either Friday or Saturday when I got the replacement TiVo. I called that day, they "paired" the card to the replacement Tivo and I have been getting all the channels except those that require a tuning adapter since then - 4 or 5 days.


The "?" means the cable card is not paired. I'm guessing the Channel List Received is "Yes". I had my cable card show a "?" for a year. Your cable company may be different.


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## sxmfan2018

Johnny Dancing said:


> I have the Arris TA (motorola tuning adapter and motorola cable card)
> 
> Supervisor was just here, he tried a third Tuning Adapter, and verified with them all CC and Tuning adapter setting were correct and made sure the CC was link to the TA. He is out of ideas. He said he has seen my set up work at other homes.
> 
> When I get a few hours I'll call Tivo support, keep them and charter on the line at the same time and see if Tivo can explain what they should do.
> 
> Two tuners capability on TA would only be an issue if you tried to record 3 channels that needed a tuning adapter. Since they are normally the least used channels that require a TA, it rarely would be an issue. My issue is I get no channels that require a TA.


sounds like your having a pairing problem. my problem was some message about not enough tuners since the arris only see's 4 tuners and not the full six tuners


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## HerronScott

Johnny Dancing said:


> It has been working partially since either Friday or Saturday when I got the replacement TiVo. I called that day, they "paired" the card to the replacement Tivo and I have been getting all the channels except those that require a tuning adapter since then - 4 or 5 days.


The lack of pairing would also explain not getting the premium channels.

Scott


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## ses

I got a call from Charter/Spectrum this morning. It appears that switched digital channels (aka require tuning adapter to work) are broken on the Charter/Spectrum side of the equation. They are working on the problem.

So... if you have a Tivo on Charter and are not getting switched video this may be a problem they are aware of.

FYI!

Update: as of a few minutes ago all my channels are back again after 2+ weeks of troubles.


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## Johnny Dancing

Problem solved. I called Tivo support, It took some arm twisting but I made them call charter and explain what needs to be done to pair the card on conference call. The reason the tuning adapter did not work was the cable card was linked to the original bad Tivo I had returned. The charter support guy linked it properly and everything works (except the tennis channel). Not sure why several calls by me and with the supervisor calling support from my house they could not figure it out.

I even got the Tivo mini up and running today using an ethernet connection on my second TV. 

An hour job ended up taking many hours of my time due to support people not knowing what they are doing. I heard from charter 10 times the card was paired properly. I think they entered the new host codes for the new tivo, but they never deleted the old Tivo. Once the old Tivo was out of the system, everything just works.


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## barbja

I found that as time has passed with our use of cable cards and tuning adapters, the time required for setup is an inverted bell curve. It took a long time when they were new, then were a snap and are excruciatingly slow now. I went through 3 cable cards and 4 tuning adapters before they ended up with a set that worked in my new Bolt. I don't think that they're making sure that they work when they get them back before they send them out again.

Luckily I live about 1.5 miles from the main office in our city and I was able to go at off times every time except once (which really sucked).

Also, this last time, they managed to disable one tuning adapter and another cable card during the process, so at one point I had 3 non-operational TiVos and they tried to blame it on my equipment. I DON'T THINK SO!


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## UCLABB

Johnny Dancing said:


> Problem solved. I called Tivo support, It took some arm twisting but I made them call charter and explain what needs to be done to pair the card on conference call. The reason the tuning adapter did not work was the cable card was linked to the original bad Tivo I had returned. The charter support guy linked it properly and everything works (except the tennis channel). Not sure why several calls by me and with the supervisor calling support from my house they could not figure it out.
> 
> I even got the Tivo mini up and running today using an ethernet connection on my second TV.
> 
> An hour job ended up taking many hours of my time due to support people not knowing what they are doing. I heard from charter 10 times the card was paired properly. I think they entered the new host codes for the new tivo, but they never deleted the old Tivo. Once the old Tivo was out of the system, everything just works.


Yep, first step is usually to unpair a card and THEN pair it to the device. When I last moved a card from one TiVo to another I told the Charter rep to unpair the card, but in this case he was knowledgeable and said he knew that.


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## Johnny Dancing

UCLABB said:


> Yep, first step is usually to unpair a card and THEN pair it to the device. When I last moved a card from one TiVo to another I told the Charter rep to unpair the card, but in this case he was knowledgeable and said he knew that.


I think every charter person I spoke to I asked can you un-pair the card and re-pair it. They all would check the numbers on the card and the Tivo and say they are correct and refuse to un-pair it and start from scratch. They would then proceed to send codes to the TA and Tivo with no luck. Apparently it takes some extra work to un-pair they don't like doing. The final guy that fixed things took a while to do the un-pair and re-pair.

I think if the first Tivo I had was not bad and had to be returned, I would have been good to go from day one. I don't know what exactly they do on Charter's side with a replacement Tivo, but I think they first need to completely remove the setup for the old Tivo then add the new tivo. I thing the CS reps just entered the new tivo codes over the original tivo codes so it looked like the pair was good when it really wasn't. Just guessing, but after hours with support, that is the feeling I get.

Maybe my experience will help someone down the line with a similar issue.


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## JoeKustra

Johnny Dancing said:


> Maybe my experience will help someone down the line with a similar issue.


I don't understand something. I have picked up from my cable company probably half a dozen cards over the years. Each time I have called, given them the numbers, and five minutes later my TiVo is ready. They call me to verify. Never have I asked for a card un-pair or reset. Since I changed the hard drives in two units, I waited about a year to pair the cards. Am I just lucky?


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## Johnny Dancing

JoeKustra said:


> I don't understand something. I have picked up from my cable company probably half a dozen cards over the years. Each time I have called, given them the numbers, and five minutes later my TiVo is ready. They call me to verify. Never have I asked for a card un-pair or reset. Since I changed the hard drives in two units, I waited about a year to pair the cards. Am I just lucky?


Did / do you also get a different Tivo unit when you changed cards? The Tuning Adapter, Card, and Tivo all need to be in sync in their system so they talk to each other. If the card or tuning adapter is paired to two different Tivos there will be issues.

I still don't get the Tennis Channel and the NFL Redzone says no signal. I would think I would get a Red Zone banner on the channel. I will see for sure on Sunday. The only reason I have charter's highest price package with all the movie channels (which I don't need) is to get the NFL red zone during the NFL season.


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## UCLABB

Johnny Dancing said:


> I think every charter person I spoke to I asked can you un-pair the card and re-pair it. They all would check the numbers on the card and the Tivo and say they are correct and refuse to un-pair it and start from scratch. They would then proceed to send codes to the TA and Tivo with no luck. Apparently it takes some extra work to un-pair they don't like doing. The final guy that fixed things took a while to do the un-pair and re-pair.
> 
> I think if the first Tivo I had was not bad and had to be returned, I would have been good to go from day one. I don't know what exactly they do on Charter's side with a replacement Tivo, but I think they first need to completely remove the setup for the old Tivo then add the new tivo. I thing the CS reps just entered the new tivo codes over the original tivo codes so it looked like the pair was good when it really wasn't. Just guessing, but after hours with support, that is the feeling I get.
> 
> Maybe my experience will help someone down the line with a similar issue.


I don't think it is more work to unpair because is took him just a minute to do the whole enchilada. I suspect the rep just was ignorant about the procedure.


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## JoeKustra

Johnny Dancing said:


> Did / do you also get a different Tivo unit when you changed cards?


Maybe my cable company does a card reset when someone turns in the card. I don't use a TA. In only one case did I replace a card since that was the best guess of the TiVo CS person. Turns out it was a bad tuner/TiVo. But in every other case I just picked up a card and called. When I changed the hard drives, I just called since I lost pairing. My cable company isn't afraid of cable cards or TiVo units.

In the case of the bad TiVo, I kept the card that was paired to the bad unit and installed it in the new unit. Paired it and all was good.

This may not matter, but when a card is paired it is reset according to the CableCARD Status display. I have watched the uptime counter go back to zero.


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## fcfc2

I am convinced that once a cablecard has been "hit" that it remains in a state for an unknown length of time, I suspect 30 days or so, and once in that state only some "unpairing" code will bring it back and get it in a usable state. If you happen to get a cable card which has been used within that time period, you will likely have trouble getting it paired, unless you get hold of someone who knows to "unpair" it first, then it can properly accept the next pairing attempt to succeed. 
I say this for a number of reasons including quizzing folks who were able to be successful when the common folks failed. One used the term "cleared" to describe what he did. Another reason I suspect this is that getting a new cable card from the supplier always worked for me, but trying to reuse a working cable card, often failed.
One other thing, on Motorola cards, if you get anything other than a number or the "?" in the conditional access screen, you may still get all or most of your channels, for a varying length of time, up to approximately one month or so, but periodially, they do some kind of audit and bam your card will be disabled and need to be repaired.


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## mdavej

Johnny Dancing said:


> I still don't get the Tennis Channel and the NFL Redzone says no signal. I would think I would get a Red Zone banner on the channel. I will see for sure on Sunday. The only reason I have charter's highest price package with all the movie channels (which I don't need) is to get the NFL red zone during the NFL season.


I think Redzone is off air except during games, so no signal is probably normal except on Sunday afternoons.

Is your Tuning Adapter working now? Do you get a non-zero / non-question mark V Val now?


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## UCLABB

mdavej said:


> I think Redzone is off air except during games, so no signal is probably normal except on Sunday afternoons.
> 
> Is your Tuning Adapter working now? Do you get a non-zero / non-question mark V Val now?


Even when off air they have a static logo screen and music.


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## Johnny Dancing

mdavej said:


> I think Redzone is off air except during games, so no signal is probably normal except on Sunday afternoons.
> 
> Is your Tuning Adapter working now? Do you get a non-zero / non-question mark V Val now?


Tuning adapter is working except for the tennis channel and maybe NFL Redzone but will wait until Sunday to know for sure. There could be some other odd ball channels missing but I probably don't watch them.



UCLABB said:


> Even when off air they have a static logo screen and music.


That is what I was thinking. When I had directv I would get a directv logo and music except on Sunday. The support person at Charter said that no signal is normal but taking that with a grain of salt. They say a lot of things they know nothing about.


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## Johnny Dancing

Of course, NFL Red Zone channel still said no signal yesterday. Called support. Said probably the tuning adapter. Will swap it out when I get a chance. I hate Charter cable.


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## mdavej

Why won't you respond to my question about the V number? That will tell us a lot. Odds that you have a bad Tuning Adapter are very, very low, especially considering it has no problem with other channels.


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## Johnny Dancing

mdavej said:


> Why won't you respond to my question about the V number? That will tell us a lot. Odds that you have a bad Tuning Adapter are very, very low, especially considering it has no problem with other channels.


Are you talking about the Val value? I used to get Val: ? Now I get Val: V 0x00 or something like that. Will look when watching tv tonight. But it is a valid number now per Tivo support.


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## Tshirts

I am new to this forum... 
Spectrum just made the switch and forced me to get a DTA - the one they gave me does not have a USB port as I have read about in the earlier posts. Can someone give me a basic outline of the proper wiring? What brand DTA has the USB port?


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## krkaufman

Tshirts said:


> Spectrum just made the switch and forced me to get a DTA - the one they gave me does not have a USB port as I have read about in the earlier posts. Can someone give me a basic outline of the proper wiring? What brand DTA has the USB port?


What "switch"? There are two significant changes that affect TiVo operation ... a provider shifting to digital from analog, and a provider implementing Switched Digital Video (SDV). (Ignoring a provider going fiber/IP; gonna pretend that's not a thing.)

Did your Spectrum region go digital? Or did they begin implementing SDV? Digital requires a CableCARD-capable TiVo; SDV requires the former plus a SDV Tuning Adapter from the provider, to enable communication back to the SDV servers.

If your "DTA" doesn't have a USB port then it's not a SDV Tuning Adapter.

What model TiVo DVR do you have?


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## krkaufman

Re: SDV ... 
https://support.tivo.com/articles/FAQ/How-Switched-Digital-Video-Impacts-Me-FAQ


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## Tshirts

krkaufman said:


> Re: SDV ...
> https://support.tivo.com/articles/FAQ/How-Switched-Digital-Video-Impacts-Me-FAQ


I have a Bolt. Spectrum just switched to SDV. The local office is clueless!!!


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## krkaufman

Tshirts said:


> I have a Bolt. *Spectrum just switched to SDV*. The local office is clueless!!!





Tshirts said:


> Spectrum just made the switch and forced me to get a DTA - the one they gave me does not have a USB port as I have read about in the earlier posts.


What is the brand and model number of the "DTA" given to you by the local office?

See also:

What is a Tuning Adapter?
How do I get a Tuning Adapter?
What is Switched Digital Video?
Will I continue to get the channels I have now if I don't get a Tuning Adapter?


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## Tshirts

Well, another trip to the local office and was told "you need to call..." - would have been nice to hear "I'll call for you"... 
The moral of the story on the 4th call to spectrum I finally got a tech who is shipping me a DTA with a USB port - He said to hook it up without a splitter - coax from wall into DTA in - coax from DTA out to Tivo Bolt - USB from DTA to Tivo - HDMI from Tivo to TV. I told him I have seen a few diagrams using a splitter and then coax to Tivo and the DTA and he said it would work either way...
[/QUOTE]


----------



## mdavej

A DTA is a very basic cable box. It is NOT a Tuning Adapter. Please don't refer to a Tuning Adapter as a DTA because it is very confusing to us reading your posts and to the cable techs trying to help you.

All Tuning Adapters have a USB port. Who knows what a USB port does on a DTA, but it will certainly not interface correctly with a Tivo.

While it's true that a Tuning Adapter will work with or without a splitter in some cases, "with" will be compatible with Moca and result in a stronger signal to your Tivo.

Please post the make and model of whatever box you receive so we can confirm you were given the correct device. If the cable company really sent you a DTA, it won't work.


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## krkaufman

mdavej said:


> A DTA is a very basic cable box. It is NOT a Tuning Adapter. Please don't refer to a Tuning Adapter as a DTA because it is very confusing to us reading your posts and to the cable techs trying to help you.


^^^ this ^^^

Also, expanding the abbrev. ... DTA means "Digital *Transport *Adapter"

"TA" and "DTA" are entirely different animals.


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## Tshirts

THANKS!!! The fast replies are awesome! and helpful!!!

I just found out about SDV & DTA last week... They converted to SDV here on the 16th. The tech I spoke with today really sounded like he knew where I was and what I needed. They are shipping me something with a USB port which. He said it might take 15 minutes to find all the channels. I'll hopefully get it Saturday. 
I found a Spectrum site last week. Afterwards I went to the local office 1/2 mile down the rd. and asked for a Turing Adapter. I got something with coax in & out, HDMI and power. I did speak with a Spectrum tech in the parking lot Tuesday on my 1st attempt to return the thing I got... He said he had spent 2 hrs messaging the "office" and got one working Monday. He said he would tell the "office guy" to fix mine too - from their end...


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## Tshirts

I had this on my phone last week when I went to the office... this is off a Spectrom site
The tech thought they gave me a regular digital adapter or something.... Thanks again.


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## krkaufman

Tshirts said:


> I just found out about SDV & DTA last week...


ahem.


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## krkaufman

Tshirts said:


> asked for a Turing Adapter. I got something with coax in & out, *HDMI *and power.


The HDMI is a tell that you do *NOT *have a SDV Tuning Adapter. TAs have no video output since they're just headless boxes acting as middlemen between a CableCARD-enabled device and the SDV servers. All their action happens via the USB port (TA<->CC device) and the lone coax port (TA<->SDV servers).

A lookup on the model number would also be a good indicator.


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## Tshirts

krkaufman said:


> The HDMI is a tell that you do *NOT *have a SDV Tuning Adapter. TAs have no video output since they're just headless boxes acting as middlemen between a CableCARD-enabled device and the SDV servers. All their action happens via the USB port (TA<->CC device) and the lone coax port (TA<->SDV servers).
> 
> A lookup on the model number would also be a good indicator.


----------



## Tshirts

Spectrum switched to SDV 2 weeks ago... Tivo Bolt, Motorola cable card.
A yellow blinking light on the MTR700, I am getting a Val: V 0x1B
Have spoken to many at Cable Card Support... I did get a tech who left instructions in my account notes - (I was not at home during that call) when home another rep read me the "notes" - not sure about all, but said nothing about "clearing"? Tivo diagnostics says paired: no.


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## mdavej

Card is paired. TA is probably still disabled on Spectrum’s end.


----------



## krkaufman

Tshirts said:


> I have a Bolt. Spectrum just switched to SDV. The local office is clueless!!!


It may be premature, your call, but filing an FCC complaint is an option if you find Spectrum seemingly blocking your ability to get your CableCARD'd TiVo box working on their system.

A recent case...


Wilzer said:


> SPECTRUM refuses to provide me a cable card at service center, say it requires a technician. I have installed a cable card in TiVo before and it is working fine right now, thank you. However, Spectrum apparently is try to stamp out the competition and force you to rent a DVR. ...
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions. I will try the technician rout, but I did schedule a Spectrum technician yesterday and waited at the appointed time, and no show. Support says that I called and cancelled -- Technician LIED, LIARS. Also said that my phone was called but my call log does not show any calls.





fcfc2 said:


> Doing something is almost always better than doing nothing. Submit a request - FCC Complaints





Wilzer said:


> FCC Complaint done Thanks





Wilzer said:


> Had top level Spectrum Tech come today, with a special cable card, his boss had handed him to install, all in response to FCC complaint. However, he even had trouble with activating card and had to bypass the regular channel.





Wilzer said:


> TRUE Dat: It worked for me: Spectrum sent a top level technician and when the usual spectrum crew couldn't activate the card, he by passed them by calling his boss who fixed it and it was done.


----------



## Wilzer

Yep, now having SDV issues I think


----------



## Tshirts

Well, I did try the 2nd TA they sent. V53 - no channels still... Tonight they unpaired & repaired. V changed to D. No Auth... No channels. He suggested going back to no TA - V53 no channels... that got him thinking that it might be their signal all along? Tuners are showing 92 to 95%. He wants to try a new CC. That was suggested the other night too, but the local office had about 10, but all were "out of inventory" yesterday!!! They were trying to find one, and the guy said he would order me one. TA is not disabled.


----------



## Wilzer

As the church lady would say, "HOW CONVENIENT"



Tshirts said:


> Well, I did try the 2nd TA they sent. V53 - no channels still... Tonight they unpaired & repaired. V changed to D. No Auth... No channels. He suggested going back to no TA - V53 no channels... that got him thinking that it might be their signal all along? Tuners are showing 92 to 95%. He wants to try a new CC. That was suggested the other night too, but the local office had about 10, but all were "out of inventory" yesterday!!! They were trying to find one, and the guy said he would order me one. TA is not disabled.


----------



## My Cape is a Recliner

A little old, but in case anyone searches and finds this:

I just added a TA after having my new bolt for three weeks and noticing I wasn't getting all my spectrum (silver/middle package) channels. I was getting FX, but not FXX. I would get HBO and SHOWTIME, but not any of the secondary channels that were included in my package. These are the SDV channels that the Tivo is not picking up.

I have a 6 tuner bolt +, and I am using a Cisco STA1520 TA. What I learned about this: The TA is supposedly capable of a lot, but spectrum has dumbed them WAY down. ALL they are doing is decrypting your channel list, and telling the TiVo which SDV channels you should have access to.

Spectrum's self install guide (currently) tells you to connect a coax from the wall, to the TA IN. Then a coax from TA OUT to the Tivo. Then connect a USB cable after its paired.
Tivo tells you to use a splitter from the wall, then connect a coax to the TA in, and the other coax from the splitter to the TiVo. After the TA has been hit/recognized/synced with spectrum you connect the USB cable. The tech who did mine said he was told by "Spetrum's TiVo department" that the TiVo way is the correct way. That is how mine is setup, and that's how it is working now. I have not changed it, and have no need to. If you are self installing it: I was told depending on your signal strength you may need an amplifier for three coax connections off one wall outlet, or you may not. I did not need one. The tech should definitely know your levels, and I am near positive that you can find those signal strength levels in your tv's diagnostics or settings.

I also had my CC working in my tivo for a few weeks prior, so because of this it was slightly different for me as opposed to hooking up the TA with the new cablecard at the same time. What difference it makes I don't know.....

The other thing I am not seeing mentioned here is that what the tech dept told us, we did, and I saw the lights change on the TA to convince me is that; after its connected through spectrum (hit), then you connect the USB cable as the directions said. ONCE YOU CONNECT THE USB CABLE, YOU NEED TO RUN THE GUIDED SETUP.. *TWICE. * The first time the guided setup is run, the TiVo is "finding" the tuning adapter. The second time the guided setup is run, the TiVo is starting its setup now that it has recognized and paired with the TA.


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## Qbert81

My Cape is a Recliner said:


> A little old, but in case anyone searches and finds this:
> 
> I just added a TA after having my new bolt for three weeks and noticing I wasn't getting all my spectrum (silver/middle package) channels. I was getting FX, but not FXX. I would get HBO and SHOWTIME, but not any of the secondary channels that were included in my package. These are the SDV channels that the Tivo is not picking up.
> 
> I have a 6 tuner bolt +, and I am using a Cisco STA1520 TA. What I learned about this: The TA is supposedly capable of a lot, but spectrum has dumbed them WAY down. ALL they are doing is decrypting your channel list, and telling the TiVo which SDV channels you should have access to.
> 
> Spectrum's self install guide (currently) tells you to connect a coax from the wall, to the TA IN. Then a coax from TA OUT to the Tivo. Then connect a USB cable after its paired.
> Tivo tells you to use a splitter from the wall, then connect a coax to the TA in, and the other coax from the splitter to the TiVo. After the TA has been hit/recognized/synced with spectrum you connect the USB cable. The tech who did mine said he was told by "Spetrum's TiVo department" that the TiVo way is the correct way. That is how mine is setup, and that's how it is working now. I have not changed it, and have no need to. If you are self installing it: I was told depending on your signal strength you may need an amplifier for three coax connections off one wall outlet, or you may not. I did not need one. The tech should definitely know your levels, and I am near positive that you can find those signal strength levels in your tv's diagnostics or settings.
> 
> I also had my CC working in my tivo for a few weeks prior, so because of this it was slightly different for me as opposed to hooking up the TA with the new cablecard at the same time. What difference it makes I don't know.....
> 
> The other thing I am not seeing mentioned here is that what the tech dept told us, we did, and I saw the lights change on the TA to convince me is that; after its connected through spectrum (hit), then you connect the USB cable as the directions said. ONCE YOU CONNECT THE USB CABLE, YOU NEED TO RUN THE GUIDED SETUP.. *TWICE. * The first time the guided setup is run, the TiVo is "finding" the tuning adapter. The second time the guided setup is run, the TiVo is starting its setup now that it has recognized and paired with the TA.


Do you experience any pixilated issues? Such as, when something moves quickly across the screen in a movie (worse so on TBS or USA) there is heavy pixilation?


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## mdavej

Qbert81 said:


> Do you experience any pixilated issues? Such as, when something moves quickly across the screen in a movie (worse so on TBS or USA) there is heavy pixilation?


I find that some channels are worse than others on Spectrum. But this is independent of your equipment (Tivo or Spectrum hardware). The source of the pixilation is Spectrum. There's really nothing you can do about it besides switch to a different provider.


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## Qbert81

mdavej said:


> I find that some channels are worse than others on Spectrum. But this is independent of your equipment (Tivo or Spectrum hardware). The source of the pixilation is Spectrum. There's really nothing you can do about it besides switch to a different provider.


That's what I've been starting to realize after scouring Spectrum threads and on the ones on here. Unfortunately I can't switch as Spectrum is our only choice in Milwaukee, aside from DirecTV.


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## mdavej

Qbert81 said:


> That's what I've been starting to realize after scouring Spectrum threads and on the ones on here. Unfortunately I can't switch as Spectrum is our only choice in Milwaukee, aside from DirecTV.


I'm pretty certain that Youtube TV, Hulu Live TV, Fubo, Philo, Sling TV, AT&T TV NOW and others are available there, many of which have video quality superior to Spectrum. All have free trials, so you can pick whichever one has the best picture.


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## My Cape is a Recliner

mdavej said:


> I find that some channels are worse than others on Spectrum. But this is independent of your equipment (Tivo or Spectrum hardware). The source of the pixilation is Spectrum. There's really nothing you can do about it besides switch to a different provider.


What channels or shows have you noticed come in pixelated? 
What is your signal strength? (Which could be low even if you aren't using any splitters and only one coax cable). 
That doesn't seem to be a fair statement to make unless:
* You know your signal strength. - (Settings and messages : Help : Diagnostics : Signal Strength - Mine have always been between 93-96% on all channels I have looked at, before and after the TA. )
* You know if your setup is capable. (If you are having trouble you might also want to make sure your coax cables are up to it. If they are old, you might want to upgrade to rg6 just to be certain).

That doesn't make sense (to me), that a single channel or show would be pixelated, and that would be because of the provider. If its a single channel, then wouldn't that have to be the signal that is being sent to the provider before they send their service out in mass?

(A little off topic; What my tech recently told me was that Spectrum has 700 or so frequencies that they use. To send a 720p signal takes one frequency. A 1080 signal takes two frequencies. A 4k60fps signal takes TEN frequencies. That if they were to go all 4k60fps signals, they would only be able to provide 70 channels).


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## mdavej

My Cape is a Recliner said:


> What channels or shows have you noticed come in pixelated?
> What is your signal strength? (Which could be low even if you aren't using any splitters and only one coax cable).
> That doesn't seem to be a fair statement to make unless:
> * You know your signal strength. - (Settings and messages : Help : Diagnostics : Signal Strength - Mine have always been between 93-96% on all channels I have looked at, before and after the TA. )
> * You know if your setup is capable. (If you are having trouble you might also want to make sure your coax cables are up to it. If they are old, you might want to upgrade to rg6 just to be certain).
> 
> That doesn't make sense (to me), that a single channel or show would be pixelated, and that would be because of the provider. If its a single channel, then wouldn't that have to be the signal that is being sent to the provider before they send their service out in mass?
> 
> (A little off topic; What my tech recently told me was that Spectrum has 700 or so frequencies that they use. To send a 720p signal takes one frequency. A 1080 signal takes two frequencies. A 4k60fps signal takes TEN frequencies. That if they were to go all 4k60fps signals, they would only be able to provide 70 channels).


I'm digging way back in my memory banks. I haven't had Spectrum cable for 4 years, and quit Tivo over a year ago.

As I recall, my local FOX was highly compressed, much more so than others and far worse than the OTA version. So I could confirm that the provider's original signal was fine since I could do a direct comparison. Similar story for many of the Turner networks. This extremely high compression resulted in excessive macro blocking (pixellation) during scene changes. My signal strength was in the mid-90's. My coax was/is fine as many techs have confirmed in various installations over the years. Dish, DirecTV and OTA have all worked fine on the same cables in the past.

I appreciate the help, but I can't fix or troubleshoot what I no longer have. I was just letting the OP know that I've had the same experience and that the Tivo and related tuning adapters or cable cards are not to blame.


----------



## Qbert81

My Cape is a Recliner said:


> What channels or shows have you noticed come in pixelated?
> What is your signal strength? (Which could be low even if you aren't using any splitters and only one coax cable).
> That doesn't seem to be a fair statement to make unless:
> * You know your signal strength. - (Settings and messages : Help : Diagnostics : Signal Strength - Mine have always been between 93-96% on all channels I have looked at, before and after the TA. )
> * You know if your setup is capable. (If you are having trouble you might also want to make sure your coax cables are up to it. If they are old, you might want to upgrade to rg6 just to be certain).
> 
> That doesn't make sense (to me), that a single channel or show would be pixelated, and that would be because of the provider. If its a single channel, then wouldn't that have to be the signal that is being sent to the provider before they send their service out in mass?
> 
> (A little off topic; What my tech recently told me was that Spectrum has 700 or so frequencies that they use. To send a 720p signal takes one frequency. A 1080 signal takes two frequencies. A 4k60fps signal takes TEN frequencies. That if they were to go all 4k60fps signals, they would only be able to provide 70 channels).


I get almost the same signal strength as you. The attached picture is off of Comedy Central with diagnostics at 92% signal strength and SNR of 36db, and this is after using 2 attenuators (20 & 3). Without the attenuators the signal caps off at 100 and SNR caps at 42 with similar picture quality. I've also updated the coax and splitter.

I've also tried to go the other direction and bring the signal/SNR to the suggested value provided by TiVo at 85% and 33-35 SNR (give or take) and that was almost unbearable on TBS, USA, TNT, and a few others. Oh yeah, this is my 2nd Bolt as I thought the 1st one was faulty due to these exact issues.

This is how it comes into the TiVo, starting at the amplifier.

-Amplifier to coax (new cable).
-Coax to splitter (new splitter)
-Splitter to Router, TA, TiVo separately (TiVo has a new coax from the splitter)
-The coax from the splitter to the TiVo box has the 2 attenuators before connecting the the box.
-also have a duel fan to cool the box to 49-52 degrees.

I've also disconnected and reconnected every coax inside and outside. Played with every possible television setting I can think of... So, I am wondering if running the Guided Setup twice sharpens the quality, as that's the one thing I haven't done... Willing to try anything at this point.

On a side note, the picture quality and resolution when the camera or picture doesn't move quickly across the screen is outstanding.


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## Philtho

I have Spectrum in WI. I have owned a Tivo HD since 2006 and just got the Bolt two days ago. I moved my Cablecard and Tuning Adapter over and was only getting two streams and on pay channels the Cablecard help # popped up. I called them up and they said they needed the SN and I gave it to them. No luck. 

Guy came out today and said they need more than just the SN, there are several IDs they need to put into the system that are listed on that Cablecard help screen. So he called up and gave them the numbers. They had me cycle everything and all the channels now worked, however I was still only able to use two tuners at once. The guy had no idea and said there wasn't much they could do as the cablecards have been the same since they came out. He said the only thing I could do is call Tivo.

I called Tivo and the lady had me do what seemed like routine basic troubleshooting. She had me go into settings and network and do TWO service connections in a row. Power it off. Then power it back on. I had NO IDEA what the significance of doing two service connections in a row and then a reboot is, but when it came back up I could use all 4 tuners. I just kind of stared at the TV and blinked a few times.

Long story short, it's working now. 

However, to the point of the post: Picture quality.

The Bolt is way more soft than my Tivo HD was. Almost so much that channels look like 480P at times. I've seen a few posts looking to fix this and Romeaeo users were seeing this also moving from a Tivo HD. It doesn't seem the Bolt has the same picture quality settings as the Tivo HD has. Maybe it does more compression or it's scaling internally and smoothing the picture quality. The Interface is all rock solid and SHARP. Just not the tuned video.

Local channels like FOX Wisconsin Sports look like complete sht, but they looked pretty bad on the Tivo HD as well - they just look worse on the Bolt.

I do have Spectrum cable boxes but they're all hooked up to tiny TVs so at that size even crap looks good. Maybe one day I'll bring one down to the 65" and see how it compares to the Bolt.


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## JCMAN

I realize this thread was active a few months ago, but my experience.

Get Bolt. Try to get Spectrum to ship the CableCARD. They agree but due to COVID-19, substantial delays. Finally get tired of waiting and drive 30 minutes to the nearest Spectrum Store. Get CableCARD 10 minutes after the shipped cable card gets a tracking number (but is still several days out from delivery). Ask if I need a tuning adapter. Told no, you don't.

Call to activate. V58 all channels. Talk to several reps, no dice. Arrange a tech visit two weeks out (time when someone was available at the home where they had availability). Ask if swapping the CableCARD will help, no sir, it will not. They have CableCARD specific reps. Some consulted with colleagues/managers to reach this conclusion. Asked about tuning adapter - expressed uncertainty. *Told Spectrum has no utility for a phone rep to check if a service area has switched digital video/requires tuning adapter.*

Go the next day to Spectrum saying, all I have to lose is an hour and a little gas to put the "CableCARD is broken" theory to test. Swap the CableCARD at retail Spectrum store. Call to activate. Instant gratification. But a handful of channels like FXX and Disney XD throw "Channel temporarily unavailable". Most work.

Tech visits. Checks the drop (strong). Checks the outlet where Tivo is located (strong but imperfect - he re-terminated the jack). Signal improved. Still no dice - those channels don't work. Told to call and ask for a tuning adapter, tech shrugged and said he hadn't seen a CableCARD in over a year but that's what the supervisor suggested.

Call again, explain history, tech visit, please order a tuning adapter. Transferred to CableCARD specialized tech. Rep is super agreeable, apologizes for delay due to "Slow computer" (VPN due to COVID). Takes about 40 minutes to get the order submitted on his end, during which time he apologized profusely and we chatted amicably about a lot of tech topics.

Tuning adapter takes about two weeks to arrive (shipped via FedEx, but delays in shipping it). Plug it in, SA/Cisco model, light blinks for about 10 minutes, goes solid (online/not updating). Hookup coax and USB to tivo, and I'm golden.

*Short version/tips:*
1) In the current COVID timeline, unless it's extremely burdensome/expensive/dangerous [maybe you're immunocompromised], you're better off getting the equipment at retail unless you're OK with a 2+ week on order delivery.
2) The phone bot can work for activation (as it did fine on my second cable card, gratification within two seconds of the bot saying it activated). If it doesn't or for any other issue, mention it's a Tivo and CableCARD and please transfer me to a CableCARD specialized rep.
3) If all channels are V58 and the CableCARD reps can't get it working, swap the card first. If you can't do it at retail and they want to send a tech, insist that the tech be sent WITH a CableCARD on their truck.
4) If most channels come in but you get a channel temporarily unavailable message on a handful of regular channels or many subchannels for a premium package (HBO, Showtime) or international packages, push for the tuning adapter to be supplied/shipped (retail/via phone respectively).

Bit of an odyssey but working very well now.


----------



## UCLABB

JCMAN said:


> I realize this thread was active a few months ago, but my experience.
> 
> Get Bolt. Try to get Spectrum to ship the CableCARD. They agree but due to COVID-19, substantial delays. Finally get tired of waiting and drive 30 minutes to the nearest Spectrum Store. Get CableCARD 10 minutes after the shipped cable card gets a tracking number (but is still several days out from delivery). Ask if I need a tuning adapter. Told no, you don't.
> 
> Call to activate. V58 all channels. Talk to several reps, no dice. Arrange a tech visit two weeks out (time when someone was available at the home where they had availability). Ask if swapping the CableCARD will help, no sir, it will not. They have CableCARD specific reps. Some consulted with colleagues/managers to reach this conclusion. Asked about tuning adapter - expressed uncertainty. *Told Spectrum has no utility for a phone rep to check if a service area has switched digital video/requires tuning adapter.*
> 
> Go the next day to Spectrum saying, all I have to lose is an hour and a little gas to put the "CableCARD is broken" theory to test. Swap the CableCARD at retail Spectrum store. Call to activate. Instant gratification. But a handful of channels like FXX and Disney XD throw "Channel temporarily unavailable". Most work.
> 
> Tech visits. Checks the drop (strong). Checks the outlet where Tivo is located (strong but imperfect - he re-terminated the jack). Signal improved. Still no dice - those channels don't work. Told to call and ask for a tuning adapter, tech shrugged and said he hadn't seen a CableCARD in over a year but that's what the supervisor suggested.
> 
> Call again, explain history, tech visit, please order a tuning adapter. Transferred to CableCARD specialized tech. Rep is super agreeable, apologizes for delay due to "Slow computer" (VPN due to COVID). Takes about 40 minutes to get the order submitted on his end, during which time he apologized profusely and we chatted amicably about a lot of tech topics.
> 
> Tuning adapter takes about two weeks to arrive (shipped via FedEx, but delays in shipping it). Plug it in, SA/Cisco model, light blinks for about 10 minutes, goes solid (online/not updating). Hookup coax and USB to tivo, and I'm golden.
> 
> *Short version/tips:*
> 1) In the current COVID timeline, unless it's extremely burdensome/expensive/dangerous [maybe you're immunocompromised], you're better off getting the equipment at retail unless you're OK with a 2+ week on order delivery.
> 2) The phone bot can work for activation (as it did fine on my second cable card, gratification within two seconds of the bot saying it activated). If it doesn't or for any other issue, mention it's a Tivo and CableCARD and please transfer me to a CableCARD specialized rep.
> 3) If all channels are V58 and the CableCARD reps can't get it working, swap the card first. If you can't do it at retail and they want to send a tech, insist that the tech be sent WITH a CableCARD on their truck.
> 4) If most channels come in but you get a channel temporarily unavailable message on a handful of regular channels or many subchannels for a premium package (HBO, Showtime) or international packages, push for the tuning adapter to be supplied/shipped (retail/via phone respectively).
> 
> Bit of an odyssey but working very well now.


What is this "phone bot" you speak of? Is there some automated system for cable card pairing now? I've done pairing many times, but always with a live person. Tell us how the procedure worked.


----------



## My Cape is a Recliner

Other than the phone bot you can also pair your cable card through the spectrum website (and the app). Log in to your spectrum account / services / TV / Experiencing issues - and you can reset your cable card that way, all automated. I think you can do your initial setup that way too.


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## UCLABB

My Cape is a Recliner said:


> Other than the phone bot you can also pair your cable card through the spectrum website (and the app). Log in to your spectrum account / services / TV / Experiencing issues - and you can reset your cable card that way, all automated. I think you can do your initial setup that way too.


Thanks, that's good news. I usually have had good luck finding the right people to pair a card, but it's always a chore to get get through the automated system to get to a human and then get to the right human.


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## mdavej

My Cape is a Recliner said:


> Other than the phone bot you can also pair your cable card through the spectrum website (and the app). Log in to your spectrum account / services / TV / Experiencing issues - and you can reset your cable card that way, all automated. I think you can do your initial setup that way too.


This must only be available in legacy TWC markets. I've never seen such a thing in legacy Charter markets. Legacy Charter does have automated modem activation, but nothing for cable card.


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## My Cape is a Recliner

Don't ask for the cablecard section, ask for 'the TiVo department'. 

Nope, its Legacy Charter. Says so right at the bottom of the webpage (spectrum.net).


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## Rose4uKY

My Cape is a Recliner said:


> Other than the phone bot you can also pair your cable card through the spectrum website (and the app). Log in to your spectrum account / services / TV / Experiencing issues - and you can reset your cable card that way, all automated. I think you can do your initial setup that way too.





My Cape is a Recliner said:


> Other than the phone bot you can also pair your cable card through the spectrum website (and the app). Log in to your spectrum account / services / TV / Experiencing issues - and you can reset your cable card that way, all automated. I think you can do your initial setup that way too.


Wow! I haven't heard of a Bot pairing and didn't know their was a Tivo Dept. We have Spectrum formerly TWC. We had a mess of a time we just upgraded our Roamio and bought a Bolt because of their Memorial Day Sale. We don't know what happened everything was working fine on the Roamio then all of a sudden card wouldn't pair all kinds of problems with Bolt and then my husband said can we put the card back in the Roamio cause all channels weren't coming in and use it till the tech support came out and the card wouldn't pair in it said failed. Lady said card was stressed that we tried to pair it to many times. But after 2 hours or more yesterday the Spectrum tech got us up and running with the bolt and paired and then we had to call Tivo back twice to get our old minis updated and connected now they have TE4. So we are up and running and the guy put some filters that he connected to our cables not sure what he told me about it I forget now but I thought he said they don't usually do this but then he took away our POE filter. Tivo said whatever filter he put in may be an updated POE filter but I don't remember the guy saying POE at all he just showed me these 2 silver things and said something about filters but we're working so I am happy.


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## David Gross

My experience today:
Got the TiVo working but took awhile. Why you ask?
Well Spectrum screwed up and sent the cable card and tuning adaptor BUT they sent the wrong power adapter for the tuning adapter and did not include the proper USB cable. After they came out quickly (next day at 8:30am) and set it up, seemed many channels were missing. Turns out that the Tivo defaulted to about 15 random channels in the channel list that were checked - could not figure out why. Called Spectrum again and they came out within a few hours. Turns out that Tivo randomly filled in those channels (or they were downloaded by Spectrum?) and what you must do once it is operational - you have to go in and select the channels you want to watch. It does not by default that they give you all the channels! How messed up is that? Oh and I had a bad HDMI cable that was not sending audio and was switching to the optical audio because of it on my Yamaha receiver. All in all, not a pleasant experience although the tech support was fast!
I hope they will add AppleTV app (Fire TV has it) and HBO Max.
One more thing: got $400 off the lifetime subscription and new 500gb Bolt. Happy about that!!


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## cwerdna

David Gross said:


> I hope they will add AppleTV app (Fire TV has it) and HBO Max.
> One more thing: got $400 off the lifetime subscription and new 500gb Bolt. Happy about that!!


They who? TiVo? I wouldn't hold your breath for it.

I recommend you buy another box/streaming stick that supports the services that you want.


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## Rose4uKY

David Gross said:


> My experience today:
> Got the TiVo working but took awhile. Why you ask?
> Well Spectrum screwed up and sent the cable card and tuning adaptor BUT they sent the wrong power adapter for the tuning adapter and did not include the proper USB cable. After they came out quickly (next day at 8:30am) and set it up, seemed many channels were missing. Turns out that the Tivo defaulted to about 15 random channels in the channel list that were checked - could not figure out why. Called Spectrum again and they came out within a few hours. Turns out that Tivo randomly filled in those channels (or they were downloaded by Spectrum?) and what you must do once it is operational - you have to go in and select the channels you want to watch. It does not by default that they give you all the channels! How messed up is that? Oh and I had a bad HDMI cable that was not sending audio and was switching to the optical audio because of it on my Yamaha receiver. All in all, not a pleasant experience although the tech support was fast!
> I hope they will add AppleTV app (Fire TV has it) and HBO Max.
> One more thing: got $400 off the lifetime subscription and new 500gb Bolt. Happy about that!!


Glad you finally got up and running. We came home last night turned on the TV had that static snowy screen again hadn't done it since Sun am. But we unplugged the HDMI plugged it back in all was good. Husband said maybe it's the TV. Our Nakamichi works and the remote does sound for it but he used to have our Roamio hooked into the HDMI of the soundbar and the Bolt doesn't want to do right Tivo said call Nakamichi but I am just so glad we are up and running. We got $100 off the box and $300 of Lifetime which I thought was good.


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## karlegas

I want share my experience with a new installation of a Tivo Edge, I have a Tivo Bolt working that will be replaced and put on sale.

I went to the store to request an additional cable card and Tuner Adapter (TA), seems the Spectrum guys are not trained about the cable card exist. Be careful Spectrum give me a package only with the power adapter and 2 coaxial cables, not include the USB cable complain about that. 

There's not more cable card department I called to phone number on my Edge Manual but goes to the Customer Service, after tell want activate the cable card and tuner adapter, only the CS can activate the Cable Card but the Tuner Adapter continues with the yellow light flashing, cannot get the SD channels.

The call drop and decide not continue calling to the CS, I figure out that the Bolt Tuner Adapter was working I can switched on the Edge and run all the channels without problem.

For transfer the recorded programs and One Pass I use the online.tivo.com and made very fast, on my iPad can do the programs but for transfer the One Pass I must use the PC because is drag and drop gesture that on the iPad was not supported.

So in the case you are updating of Tivo is better get an additional card and TA in case somethign goes wrong and don't lose your time.

After the long weekend I will put on sale the Tivo Bolt because some tv records are not transferable.

I have some questions, the TA will supports the 6 decoders or use only 4 as maximum as states Tivo?

I want use the Tivo Digital Audio port with a bluetooth adapter to use my headphone in the night, that not interfere with the HDMI audio?

Karl


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## mdavej

- I have used several Charter Spectrum TAs the past several years. All worked fine with 6 tuners. But there is a remote possibility you could have a decades old one that doesn't. Even if it is old, the firmware should automatically update. I would simply record all 6 and see if it works. If it doesn't, try again to get the new TA working.

- You can use the optical and HDMI ports simultaneously.


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## austinsho

Karl....Always when dealing with Spectrum and activating a TiVo, get I multiples in equipment. The last Roamio Pro I activated, I had to get three cards and two adapters before hitting on a combination that properly worked. I have not had an issue using my six tuner TiVo with any tuning adapter. I'm thinking the TA simply routes the channel, it's not like all six streams are going through it at once.

There are three Spectrum stores in my market (Austin, Texas) of the three stores ONE has a person well-versed in Cable Card/TiVo. 

Regarding getting stuff activated, yes, the so-called Cable Card line now just goes to customer service. However, if you tell the first person who answers that you need to activate a Cable Card and a Tivo, they will usually route you directly to someone who (generally) knows what they are doing. Now, some front line operators may tell you they can activate your TiVo. It's been my experience that you should not give them this opportunity, that it's better that a single person do the entire job. This is especially important if this is a person's first TiVo, as the front line folks will invariably miss some of the codes that must be attached to the account to properly activate the equipment.


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## Teveaux

Question: I have a TIVO BOLT and Spectrum cable. The BOLT is new, having replaced a Roamio from 2013 earlier this year. My setup also includes the same CableCard and Tuning Adapter supplied by Time Warner Cable (before they became Spectrum) in 2013. Due to some recent problems in not receiving a very specific set of channels, Spectrum eventually decided to upgrade the tuning adapter to see if that solved the problem (they said it was outdated equipment). But they sent me a _receiver_ instead of a replacement _tuning adapter_. The receiver has tons of ports on the back (HDMI, various audio/video, USB), whereas the old tuning adapter only had coax and USB ports. Does anyone else have a receiver being used as a tuning adapter? I'm waiting for Spectrum tech support right now, but if history is any guide, it may take a few tries to find someone who knows how to help... advice? Thanks!


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## austinsho

Absolutely not, no. This does not work.

You need a Tuning Adapter. A receiver is a completely different animal. You may need to go to a Spectrum store to get one. And that receiver is costing you money on your account every month. The tuning adapter is free.

And here's another thing they will do....Check your channel lineup CAREFULLY. For instance, I have the Silver Package with Digipack 2. When we recently switched equipment Spectrum (for some gawd-awful reason) decided to STOP my service. When they restored it, they failed to add Digipack 2. They then proceeded to insist that the cablecard was not properly authorizing properly.

I then tracked down, one by one, all channels I was not getting and realized that it was exactly the Digipack 2 lineup. I called them back and they confirmed that Digipack 2 was not on the account and they could not add it because there was still and outstanding phone(?!?!?!) order on it. We finally got everything squared away, but this is the kind of nonsense they will throw your way as absolutely no one there has a working knowledge of cablecards since that group was disbanded.

Spectrum....when it works, it's a beautiful thing. When it doesn't, it's pure Hell.


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## My Cape is a Recliner

Teveaux said:


> Question: I have a TIVO BOLT and Spectrum cable. The BOLT is new, having replaced a Roamio from 2013 earlier this year. My setup also includes the same CableCard and Tuning Adapter supplied by Time Warner Cable (before they became Spectrum) in 2013. Due to some recent problems in not receiving a very specific set of channels, Spectrum eventually decided to upgrade the tuning adapter to see if that solved the problem (they said it was outdated equipment). But they sent me a _receiver_ instead of a replacement _tuning adapter_. The receiver has tons of ports on the back (HDMI, various audio/video, USB), whereas the old tuning adapter only had coax and USB ports. Does anyone else have a receiver being used as a tuning adapter? I'm waiting for Spectrum tech support right now, but if history is any guide, it may take a few tries to find someone who knows how to help... advice? Thanks!


They sent you the wrong thing. You need a tuning adapter. Drop that off at a store if thats an option, and make sure they don't charge you for that thing, not even for a day.

When you call spectrum, you first need the cable section, then you need the cable card department.

Even though its the same cable card, you still have to give them the new HOST ID for the new tivo to work.

You should still be able to run tivo without the tuning adapter. You won't get all the channels, but it will give you some, more or the less the low tier/basics. I remember getting FX but not FXX or FX movies. It should at least hold you over. If you don't get those without the TA, then the setup is not right.

After you get the tuning adapter, you will have to call them to have them ping it, and you have to run the setup twice. Once for the tivo to find the TA, then a second time for the tivo to do the entire setup, after its already connected. You can try doing both before you contact Spectrum again after getting the TA.


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## Teveaux

Thank you, austinsho and My Cape is a Recliner! I was eventually able to get ahold of someone in the know, and they confirmed what you said--need a tuning adapter and not a receiver. I appreciate all the additional info you provided!

For posterity, for anyone searching for this information in the future, I learned the following today:

Spectrum tech support chat agents are not trained on TiVo-related issues (according to one of them) (so glad they forgot to tell me that three agents ago!). If they tell you anything, don't count on it being correct.
I was given this phone number to call and ask for someone who can help with TiVo issues: 855-707-7328 (I did not have to wait to speak to anyone, amazingly enough, and the first person I talked to knew what she was talking about).


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## austinsho

That is one thing about Spectrum that runs me up the wall....
*
The agents will make s#!t up with no hesitation whatsoever to get you off the phone if they do not have an immediate answer to your problem.*

Oh...and since I forgot to say it up top....welcome to the forum!


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## EWiser

I run all my TiVo’s with out tuning adapters. I had them ship them to me when they first offered them. But took them back when I realized that I didn’t need them for the channels that I use the TiVo for.


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## austinsho

If you can get away without them, that's great. Here in Austin, though, TAs are required for *all* but the main HBO channel!


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## UCLABB

Teveaux said:


> Question: I have a TIVO BOLT and Spectrum cable. The BOLT is new, having replaced a Roamio from 2013 earlier this year. My setup also includes the same CableCard and Tuning Adapter supplied by Time Warner Cable (before they became Spectrum) in 2013. Due to some recent problems in not receiving a very specific set of channels, Spectrum eventually decided to upgrade the tuning adapter to see if that solved the problem (they said it was outdated equipment). But they sent me a _receiver_ instead of a replacement _tuning adapter_. The receiver has tons of ports on the back (HDMI, various audio/video, USB), whereas the old tuning adapter only had coax and USB ports. Does anyone else have a receiver being used as a tuning adapter? I'm waiting for Spectrum tech support right now, but if history is any guide, it may take a few tries to find someone who knows how to help... advice? Thanks!


Yeah, as other posters said you need a TA. Unfortunately, your problem is probably not the TA you have. I have rarely seen the equipment be the problem, it is almost always something at the headend. Where are you at? I've been dealing with a Spectrum issue for for a couple of weeks now. A lot of channels are not tuning. Spectrum admits it is their problem and not my equipment and is trying to get it fixed.


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## Teveaux

Thanks for the follow-ups! A tuning adapter is definitely required in my area (I get nothing at all without it).

UCLABB--you were unfortunately right that the new TA did not solve the problem. Luckily, after an hour on the phone yesterday with a very patient and knowledgeable tech person (or at least one willing to look through a lot of documentation and try a lot of things), our channels are restored, though notably, it didn't happen while we were on the call. Rather, I got a call this morning saying that service was restored, and sure enough, everything works now. So either someone kept working on the problem after the call or it was something that needed to re-sync and that just took time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(They're also shipping me a new CableCard in case that was the problem, but now I'm not so sure I want to tinker with a system that, for the moment, is working okay...)

My next step is to take pix of every TA and CableCard diagnostic screen while service is working fine, and that way, if (ok, _when_) there's a next time, I can compare and see what's different. I might also call tech support again and ask what it is they did in the end that fixed it and write it down so I can ask them to specifically do that next time.


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## Scoobi

Ha! Gotta laugh.. I am going through same thing. 2 Premier TiVo's, 2 tuning adapters. Worked with Digital Initiatives Desk yesterday and now believe that CableCARD is good to go. He had me check CA screen to see if STATUS = Ready and EMMs Processed was > 0. Guess EMMs increment when he sends signal. Then he had me go to CP info screen to make sure Auth Status was CP Auth received.

Originally I was told my TiVo was bad because I should be receiving local channels like NBC, ABC and CBS without TA. SO I got replacement and same problem. Got another tuning adapter - same problem. Started scanning channels and started picking up various channels (about 30 in all). Lifetime, TNT etc. Ans I was getting them WITHOUT the TA.....

SO I started looking at the TA Diagnostics screen and think it is telling me that it is not working correctly. At the Status Summary page for the Status Field it says B'cast Only. Is this right? Also in the SDV SESSION INFO screens (A, B & C) SESSION-!,2,3,4,5 & 6 all have the Tuner Status: field set as Inactive. The Tuning Adapter Screen says Authorized: Yes and OpStatus us Ready. I had them look at it today and they re-booted the TA, and my TA LED is solid green, but still no SDV channels.

Got a tech coming tomorrow again (3rd time), but reading through this thread I am going to try doing the Guided Setup twice and see what happens. I tried helping them to stop a possible unneeded truck roll (I worked at AT&T doing tech support for 20+ years and have gotten pretty good at the screens these past two weeks), so I am able to tell the problem to support so that they understand the problem.

So we will see what happens tomorrow with the tech. Asked for the tech to bring another CableCARD just in case. Trying to get this TV up and running has been a nightmare the past three weeks.... broken cable to the house, no wiring inside the house.. Everything is now new up to their box. Asked today if the tech does not resolve the problem tomorrow what happens next and I guess they will get someone higher up the support chain to come here. Fingers crossed...


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## UCLABB

Scoobi said:


> Ha! Gotta laugh.. I am going through same thing. 2 Premier TiVo's, 2 tuning adapters. Worked with Digital Initiatives Desk yesterday and now believe that CableCARD is good to go. He had me check CA screen to see if STATUS = Ready and EMMs Processed was > 0. Guess EMMs increment when he sends signal. Then he had me go to CP info screen to make sure Auth Status was CP Auth received.
> 
> Originally I was told my TiVo was bad because I should be receiving local channels like NBC, ABC and CBS without TA. SO I got replacement and same problem. Got another tuning adapter - same problem. Started scanning channels and started picking up various channels (about 30 in all). Lifetime, TNT etc. Ans I was getting them WITHOUT the TA.....
> 
> SO I started looking at the TA Diagnostics screen and think it is telling me that it is not working correctly. At the Status Summary page for the Status Field it says B'cast Only. Is this right? Also in the SDV SESSION INFO screens (A, B & C) SESSION-!,2,3,4,5 & 6 all have the Tuner Status: field set as Inactive. The Tuning Adapter Screen says Authorized: Yes and OpStatus us Ready. I had them look at it today and they re-booted the TA, and my TA LED is solid green, but still no SDV channels.
> 
> Got a tech coming tomorrow again (3rd time), but reading through this thread I am going to try doing the Guided Setup twice and see what happens. I tried helping them to stop a possible unneeded truck roll (I worked at AT&T doing tech support for 20+ years and have gotten pretty good at the screens these past two weeks), so I am able to tell the problem to support so that they understand the problem.
> 
> So we will see what happens tomorrow with the tech. Asked for the tech to bring another CableCARD just in case. Trying to get this TV up and running has been a nightmare the past three weeks.... broken cable to the house, no wiring inside the house.. Everything is now new up to their box. Asked today if the tech does not resolve the problem tomorrow what happens next and I guess they will get someone higher up the support chain to come here. Fingers crossed...


I believe all the info in the TA diagnostics you read are what they are supposed to be. My adapter is supposedly working fine, but not getting all SDV channels. Spectrum says something is wrong in their infrastructure. They've spent hours here. Even brought their own TiVo here and it has the same issues. Replaced all my coax all the way to the pole. Resolution still pending.


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## Teveaux

Thought I'd post an update for anyone interested. Long story short, everything is working fine now.

Shortly after my last post, the "bad" channels started being "bad" again. Naturally, this was before I took screenshots of all the diagnostic screens...

Another call to CableCard support and having them send some "hits" (I guess just signal pings?) didn't solve the problem at first, but late that night, the channels started coming in loud and clear.

We had a tech scheduled to come out the next morning, so we decided to have him test the signal coming into the house to see if he could identify any problems. He said it's plenty strong, so it doesn't seem like there are any issues with signal degradation from the source. So that's good.

But then he said something interesting. He asked if we did any streaming or had considered getting internet via the cable. (No and no to both.) He suggested that greater signal usage equals greater signal stability. That got me thinking: the way we've been using our system, we don't change channels on the tuners that often because we don't tend to watch a huge number of different channels much of the time. So what we've been doing, every few hours, is change each tuner to a different "bad" channel and then back to a different "good" channel, so that we're essentially sending the system a signal back upstream "Hey! I'm still here!".

It's been almost a month and we haven't had a single problem.

Knock on wood.


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## Rose4uKY

We just recently started having problems again and some of our channels won't come in and it says error v52 or v53. We got that before on our Romeo and now it just started happening again on our Bolt.


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## Teveaux

Teveaux said:


> It's been almost a month and we haven't had a single problem.
> 
> Knock on wood.


Spoke too soon. Woke up today to every bad channel failing to tune in. And the usual tuning adapter restart didn't help.


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## SolomonJ

I had the exact same thing with 3 tuning adapters on Spectrum in the Central Florida market. One TA was on TiVo Bolt, the other 2 on HDHomeRun Prime 3's. Went through all the escalations up to local supervisor. Long story short, the 10MHz signal that the TA uses UPSTREAM to talk to the SDV infrastructure was not getting through. Result was the TA running in "B'cast Only" mode, which is why half the channels would get V52 errors. 

I ended up turning in all my equipment and cancelling Spectrum service on 9/3. I had planned to do an FCC complaint, but on 9/4 found that the FCC had just changed their ruling on CableCard support. Personally, I don't believe this is a coincidence. I believe it's Spectrum trying to get rid of all the CableCards. The TA's use 10MHz to request channels from the SDV system. Spectrum's own cable boxes do NOT use 10MHz frequency for this. 

I find it hard to believe that customers in multiple Spectrum markets suddenly start having the same problem at the same time. I think we just experienced Spectrum's contribution to the death of CableCards because the FCC changed the rules and now they could get away with it. My Bolt is now hooked to an OTA antenna and my HDHomeRun Prime 3's are in the trash because they can't do OTA.


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## UCLABB

SolomonJ said:


> I had the exact same thing with 3 tuning adapters on Spectrum in the Central Florida market. One TA was on TiVo Bolt, the other 2 on HDHomeRun Prime 3's. Went through all the escalations up to local supervisor. Long story short, the 10MHz signal that the TA uses UPSTREAM to talk to the SDV infrastructure was not getting through. Result was the TA running in "B'cast Only" mode, which is why half the channels would get V52 errors.
> 
> I ended up turning in all my equipment and cancelling Spectrum service on 9/3. I had planned to do an FCC complaint, but on 9/4 found that the FCC had just changed their ruling on CableCard support. Personally, I don't believe this is a coincidence. I believe it's Spectrum trying to get rid of all the CableCards. The TA's use 10MHz to request channels from the SDV system. Spectrum's own cable boxes do NOT use 10MHz frequency for this.
> 
> I find it hard to believe that customers in multiple Spectrum markets suddenly start having the same problem at the same time. I think we just experienced Spectrum's contribution to the death of CableCards because the FCC changed the rules and now they could get away with it. My Bolt is now hooked to an OTA antenna and my HDHomeRun Prime 3's are in the trash because they can't do OTA.


That's interesting. A month ago I was having problems with my TiVos not getting a lot of SDV channels. As part of the investigation by Spectrum they hooked up one of their boxes and it worked fine. Your explanation makes sense. 
It turned out there was a problem at the node that they supposedly fixed. One of my TiVos now is working for the most part, just a few problems of being unable to tune or audio but no video. One TiVo is still not getting most premium channels. Truck roll tomorrow.


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## SolomonJ

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/video/at_home/Set-Tops/STA1520/4025082_B.pdf

This is the troubleshooting manual for the TA. A very interesting and quick read. You can walk through it yourself, compare your diagnostic screens to the explanations in the manual, and know more than the Spectrum tech easily. It will help you know when they're blowing smoke.


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## Abb

Another thing to consider: TA's don't "like" MOCA. My Bolt has the MOCA bridge built-in. Only way TA/Cablecard would work was if I put POE filter between Bolt/TA split and the TA. After that, TA worked like a champ. Been TIVOing with Spectrum for more than 2 years with rare reboots.


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## XIBM

Abb said:


> Another thing to consider: TA's don't "like" MOCA. My Bolt has the MOCA bridge built-in. Only way TA/Cablecard would work was if I put POE filter between Bolt/TA split and the TA. After that, TA worked like a champ. Been TIVOing with Spectrum for more than 2 years with rare reboots.


What brand TA/Cable Card do you have?


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## Abb

*TA*: Cisco STA1520
*Cablecard*: Cisco Multi-Stream PowerKEY Model PKM803

Spectrum (TWC in San Antonio, TX)


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## mattyro7878

If Comcast doesn't need tuning adapters why can't all cable systems do the same? Of course , hoping for any movement in cablecard/sdv is simply fruitless.


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## krkaufman

SolomonJ said:


> my HDHomeRun Prime 3's are in the trash


Ouch. They might have found a home, however short-term, elsewhere.

edit: Still seems to be a demand for them, based on >eBay auctions<.


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## Teveaux

Update to my update: Tech came out and found no problem with the equipment or line. He thinks the problem is that the TA is not getting an IP address over the RF network (which I'm told is delivered via the coaxial cable, not from the home's wireless network) and that the problem is either at a node or at the head end. But that was a week ago with no resolution yet. Another tech + supervisor coming tomorrow.

The RF network IP missing is consistent with the screenshots I was finally able to get with the channels tuning fine vs. not: had an IP when they were, didn't when they didn't.

Also:


Abb said:


> Another thing to consider: TA's don't "like" MOCA. My Bolt has the MOCA bridge built-in. Only way TA/Cablecard would work was if I put POE filter between Bolt/TA split and the TA. After that, TA worked like a champ. Been TIVOing with Spectrum for more than 2 years with rare reboots.


Question: I don't use MOCA (I don't think) (at least not intentionally) on my BOLT, as I don't have other TiVo equipment and never specifically set up a MOCA network as far as I can remember. Would a PoE filter matter in my case? Or could my BOLT have a MOCA running that I can disable or something?


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## Abb

Instructions on setting up MoCA network. I am using the BOLT as bridge. See items 4, 5, 6.


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## krkaufman

Teveaux said:


> I don't use MOCA (I don't think) (at least not intentionally) on my BOLT, as I don't have other TiVo equipment and never specifically set up a MOCA network as far as I can remember. Would a PoE filter matter in my case? Or could my BOLT have a MOCA running that I can disable or something?


Theoretically ... if MoCA can affect TA performance (posts here indicate that it can), any MoCA signal could do so, including a MoCA network emanating from a neighbor who's failed to isolate their own coax plant using a "PoE" MoCA filter.

'gist: Even if *you* don't have a MoCA network active, one way to be sure MoCA isn't affecting your TA would be to install a PoE filter on its coax input port. (Slim chance it'd help given the low odds of there being any MoCA hitting your TA. As an afterthought, one way to check if there's a MoCA network present on your coax would be to unplug the BOLT from Ethernet and then try setting it up as a MoCA *client*. If it can, you've found a MoCA network; noting that failure doesn't authoritatively exclude MoCA signals on the coax, just that they're not sufficiently strong for the BOLT to connect.)


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## UCLABB

Teveaux said:


> Update to my update: Tech came out and found no problem with the equipment or line. He thinks the problem is that the TA is not getting an IP address over the RF network (which I'm told is delivered via the coaxial cable, not from the home's wireless network) and that the problem is either at a node or at the head end. But that was a week ago with no resolution yet. Another tech + supervisor coming tomorrow.
> 
> The RF network IP missing is consistent with the screenshots I was finally able to get with the channels tuning fine vs. not: had an IP when they were, didn't when they didn't.
> 
> Also:
> 
> Question: I don't use MOCA (I don't think) (at least not intentionally) on my BOLT, as I don't have other TiVo equipment and never specifically set up a MOCA network as far as I can remember. Would a PoE filter matter in my case? Or could my BOLT have a MOCA running that I can disable or something?


Just went through that that. Problem was at the node. They did a fix, but it is still not 100%. POE filter will not help. I tried that early on.


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## cp2k

I'm having a major issue right now with my Tuning Adapter and my Tivo Roamio 4 tuner model. It has worked flawlessly without any hiccups at all since I got it until a few months ago. I noticed it randomly started popping up a Tuning Adapter not connected screen. I'd reset the TA and it would work again for a few days. Finally I switched the USB cable and it started working fine again. A few weeks ago I was watching TV one night and it started giving me a strange communication message I've never seen before when I went to a SDV channel. I reset the TA but it did't boot back up. I figured it was a system issue and just waited until the next morning but no luck. When I plug it in I get only the steady blinking yellow light. Guess it's time to call Spectrum for a replacement?


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## mdavej

Charter would inexplicably disable or remove the TA from my account at random intervals every few years. So I’d call first to make sure it’s still on your account and enabled. Failing that, I’d swap it for another, assuming they have one. Good luck. You’re gonna need it.


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## UCLABB

cp2k said:


> I'm having a major issue right now with my Tuning Adapter and my Tivo Roamio 4 tuner model. It has worked flawlessly without any hiccups at all since I got it until a few months ago. I noticed it randomly started popping up a Tuning Adapter not connected screen. I'd reset the TA and it would work again for a few days. Finally I switched the USB cable and it started working fine again. A few weeks ago I was watching TV one night and it started giving me a strange communication message I've never seen before when I went to a SDV channel. I reset the TA but it did't boot back up. I figured it was a system issue and just waited until the next morning but no luck. When I plug it in I get only the steady blinking yellow light. Guess it's time to call Spectrum for a replacement?


You can go on the Spectrum website and get a hit to the TA. You have to really search around to find the page that will do it. It may work and it's worth a try.


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## ManeJon

OK my story - hopefully complete now. All worked fine with my Bolt and Spectrum until 10 days ago. The bolt started rebooting and then wouldn't do anything but lights blinking. So called TIVO and they sent a replacement that came in about 4 days. I set up Bolt - put the cable card in from the other one and called Spectrum to get card paired with new box. All I got was an error message on bolt about pairing card and device. Called Spectrum again. They sent a tech out who checked all signal strengths and cabling - which was OK. I could get local channels but other than that got pairing message. Called again and was told elevating and I'd hear in 1/2 to 1 1/2 hours. At 2 I called and was told they decided (and didn't tell me ) that the problem had to be my TIVO unit. I insisted they come out with new card and new tuning adapter. They said fine but if it was a TIVO problem I'd pay for call. First tech came out and didn't bring Card - told me first that I had to go to store to get new card - then he talked to supervisor and they set up another come out with a new card and tuning adapter. Next day they put in new card - now I got more stations but got HBO but not HBO2. No more Card errors Said probably tuning adapter. Replaced that and it still didn't work but adapter didn't seem to be running right. Tech was talking to a TIVO expert at Spectrum so they have them and insist on getting them on line. Guy came with another new Tuning Adapter put that in rebooted and ALL WORKED - so only needed a new TIVO, a new card and new Tuning Adapter. Don't know what caused damage to what but...
There is total confusion among techs about Cable cards etc. but be insistent and hopefully you'll succeed - it took many days, many phone calls and many tech visits but... Specialist on phone said you should never put old cable card in new box.


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